While his family was living in Ontario, Canada, Michael’s third grade teacher gave the class a homework assignment: go home write about animals in the zoo. He wrote his as a play and the monkey got all the laughs.
Nelson studied television & radio scriptwriting under the tutelage of Professor Virginia Harris at The University of Minnesota’s School for Journalism. As a copywriter, his accounts included Ringling Bros & Barnum and Bailey Circus, Ice Follies, and Disney’s World on Ice, among others. As a journalist, his celebrity interviews have included Carol Burnett, Steve Allen, author-actress Fannie Flagg, and legendary MGM screenwriter-novelist Anita Loos. His plays for family audiences have been performed at The Kennedy Center, The Coterie Theatre, Birmingham Children Theatre, Prime Stage Theatre, and Spokane Children’s Theatre. He wrote briefly for Walt Disney Television Animation, but found he quickly tired of chipmunks and turned his attention to short story writing.
He currently lives in Long Beach, California with his spouse, Dale, and their dog, Linus. The Lincoln Moon is his first published novel.
