Kent Nelson is a contemporary American author specializing in fiction and poetry. He holds a Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 in Environmental Law from the Harvard Law School.

Aside from writing and holding 15 different academic positions, he has held various part-time and odd jobs which have influenced his writings. These include:

• Doorman, Club Casablanca, in Cambridge, MA
• Teacher in STEP, a prison education project, in S. Walpole, MA
• Tennis Professional in Colorado Springs, CO; Charleston, SC; and West Germany
• Travel Agent in Frankfurt, West Germany
• Dishwasher, Hotel Bãren, in Sundlauenen, Switzerland
• City Judge in Ouray, CO
• Basketball Referee in Ouray, CO
• Ad Salesman and Reporter, Ouray County Plaindealer
  Ouray County Plaindealer
  The Ouray County Plaindealer is a weekly newspaper based in Ouray, Colorado and owned by Ouray County Newspapers. It is the newspaper of record for the city and county of Ouray.-History:...
  
  , in Ouray, CO
• Writer for a tow-truck magazine in Chattanooga, TN
• Algebra Tutor, Baylor School
  Baylor School
  Baylor School is a private, coeducational prep school on the outskirts of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The school was founded in 1893 and since 1915 has been located on the same hillside site by the Tennessee River. The school went through several incarnations: moving from an all-male military academy...
  
  , in Chattanooga, TN
• Summer School SAT Prep Teacher, Exeter Academy, in Exeter, NH
• Squash Coach, Exeter Academy, in Exeter, NH
• Hired Man, Alfalfa Ranch, in Oral, SD (irrigating, fence-building, cutting hay, etc.)
• Innkeeper in Ouray, CO

Selected bibliography

Title	Publication Date	Publisher
The Tennis Player and Other Stories	1977	University of Illinois Press
Cold Wind River	1981	Dodd Mead
All Around Me Peaceful	1989	Delta
The Middle of Nowhere, Stories	1991	Gibbs Smith
Language in the Blood	1992	Gibbs Smith
Discoveries: Short Stories of the San Juan Mountains	1998	Western Reflections, Inc.
Toward the Sun: The Collected Sports Stories of Kent Nelson	1998	Breakaway Books
Land That Moves, Land That Stands Still	2003	Viking Penguin
Birds in the Hand: Fiction and Poetry about Birds	2004	North Point Press
The Touching That Lasts: Stories	2006	Johnson Books

External links