Tim Cahill, a founding editor of Outside magazine and a prolific adventure writer, received honorary membership to OWAA following his keynote address at the 2016 annual conference in July in Billings, Montana.
Cahill is the author of nine books and a freelance writer with bylines in Rolling Stone, Esquire, Field & Stream, National Geographic and other major publications.
“If ever there were a writer who deserves to be made an honorary member of OWAA based on the quality and quantity and subject matter of his body of work, Tim is that writer,”
Bill Powell, OWAA’s legal counsel told the Board of Directors. Powell, along with OWAA’s first vice president Phil Bloom nominated Cahill for the honorary membership, and the board unanimously approved him.
Cahill spent three years writing his first book on serial killer John Wayne Gacy. After “Buried Dreams” published, he turned his focus to his often humorous, sometimes dangerous and always entertaining adventures, Powell said. His work has taken him to exotic locations around the globe and into politically unstable regions. He also holds the record for the fastest overland trip from the tip of South America to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
But above all, Cahill is a writer, Powell said.
“The quality of Tim’s writing in his decades-long career has put him in the proper company of the literary outdoor writers he and the others who founded Outside aspired to emulate: James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner,” Powell said. “His adventures, however, have often been wildly more hair-raising than theirs.”
Honorary membership can, according to the OWAA bylaws, be granted by unanimous vote from the Board of Directors.
Cahill joins five other living honorary members: G. Matheny, Eileen King, Steve Baker, Sil Strung and Gene Reynolds.
“Since the first article I read by Tim Cahill during the early years of Outside magazine, whenever I see his byline, I always paused to read his words,” said Lisa Ballard, former OWAA president. “Not only is he an extraordinary adventurer who has traveled throughout the world enlightening us about people, places, controversy, conservation and other challenges, but he is also one of the most engaging outdoor storytellers of our era. I can’t think of a more deserving person to receive honorary membership in OWAA.” ♦
Tim Cahill granted honorary OWAA membership
