Philip Hoelzel is the author of two forthcoming books, Planting Hope: A Portrait of Photographer Sebastião Salgado and Samba! The Heartbeat of a Community: Ailton Nunes’s Musical Journey. Philip was born and raised near Chicago, Illinois. His kindergarten was a one room school house with corn fields on three sides of the building and a narrow two-lane road on the other. A metal swing set was the playground equipment.

Growing up Philip played soccer, rode his bike to a nearby lake to go fishing and played pick up games with neighborhood friends. Some of his other favorite childhood memories are of hiking, skating and cross-country skiing in his local parks as well as summer camping trips with his parents and two siblings.

When he got older, Philip’s love of the outdoors led him to take classes in forestry, wildlife and natural resources in college. He graduated with a certification to teach kindergarten through 8th grade with an emphasis in science. Later, he earned a certification to teach secondary Spanish.

Today, when not writing, Philip can be found managing in an outdoor retail store, traveling the country training new store employees on the latest outdoor gear and performing with a Brazilian percussion group in Austin, Texas.