Ray Troll, friend of the Casper College Tate Museum, wins Guggenheim for science writing

Alaska artist and writer Ray Troll, author of Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway, has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for his science writing. Ray was one of the presenters at the 2010 Equality State Book Festival in Casper. He is an old friend of the Casper College Tate Geological Museum and was a co-presenter of two bookfest sessions at the Tate: a book illustrators' panel along with Casper's Zak Pullen, illustrator of the children's book about “Dee” the mammoth; and the Tate's Russell Hawley. Ray also joined Casper author Tom Rea, Ilja Nieuwland and the Tate staff in a session called “Dig-it: A Conversation About Dinosaurs and Fossils.”

Ray lives in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Here's some background info on the 2011 Guggenheim awards:

On April 7, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awarded 180 Fellowships to a diverse group of scholars, artists, and scientists in its eighty-seventh annual competition for the United States and Canada.  Appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise, the successful candidates were chosen from a group of almost 3,000 applicants.

Image: Ray Troll's illustration for "Crusin' the Fossil Highway."