Michael Norman

Michael Norman is the author most recently of THE NEARLY DEPARTED: MINNESOTA GHOST STORIES AND LEGENDS, published in 2009 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Earlier, he collaborated with the late Beth Scott on the popular Haunted America series of true ghost stories including, most recently, HAUNTED HOMELAND, released in 2006 by Forge Books/​Tom Doherty Associates, and now available in a paperback edition. Norman and Scott’s earlier collaborations include
HAUNTED HEARTLAND
HAUNTED WISCONSIN.
HAUNTED HERITAGE
HISTORIC HAUNTED AMERICA
HAUNTED AMERICA

Norman is the co-author with writer Carol Roecklein of two vocabulary books written for ages 12 and up: WORDWISE, VOCABULARY GUIDES TO ENHANCE YOUR REAL-WORLD CONVERSATIONS. Both are published by MindWare, a leading distributor of educational materials. The books can be ordered directly from the publisher at www.mindwareonline.com.

As a playwright, Norman has written several plays, including Entering the Circle: The Lives of Pioneer Farm Women for the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial with support from a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The play used diaries, memoirs, letters and other reminiscences to tell the story of rural women Midwestern farm women. He also wrote Nye and Riley Tonight!, based on the nineteenth century lyceum programs of Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley and Wisconsin humorist Edgar Wilson “Bill” Nye.

Norman is a professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls, where for thirty years he taught a wide-range of courses in writing, media law and broadcast journalism. He makes his home in Western Wisconsin.