James Alan Polster

Born James Alan Polster to Harold and Ethel Polster in Cleveland, Ohio. Polster grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and is a member of the Shaker Heights Alumni Association Hall of Fame.[1] After graduation from Tulane University (B.S.) in 1969, Polster hopped a freighter for Spain and eventually settled in Tangiers. He returned to the United States to attend graduate school. He graduated from Columbia University (M.A.) in 1973. He received a second graduate degree from Harvard University (Ed.M.) in 1982. Beginning in 1973, Polster explored the Amazon Rainforest on several trips,[2] spent time in the jungles of Irian Jaya with cannibals in 1989,[3] and both covered and played in the World Championships of Elephant polo for Sports Illustrated in Nepal in 1991.[4] Polster is a National Fellow of the Explorers Club.[5]

Polster has worked as novelist, movie producer, screenwriter, explorer and journalist.

His first novel, A Guest in the Jungle, focused a spotlight on the disappearing rainforest and the people who live there,[6][7] and helped to kickstart the rainforest environmental movement.[8] His exploits and adventures have been the subject of numerous media profiles.[9]

His second novel, Brown, was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books of the Year,[10] and was awarded The Critics’ Choice Award 1995-96.[11] Brown is slated to be made into a feature film.[12]

His third novel, THE GRADUATE STUDENT, was released in August 2009 as a digital eBook by Stay Thirsty Press.

Polster’s books have been reviewed by The New York Times, [13] Publishers Weekly,[14]Kirkus Reviews, [15]L.A. Daily News,[16] San Francisco Examiner,[17]Cleveland Plain Dealer,,[18] San Mateo Times,[19] Armchair Detective,[20] and Library Journal.[21]

As a movie producer,[22] Polster was an in-house producer for Columbia Pictures and produced five movies for Columbia Pictures Television and NBC starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers:

• Hart to Hart: Secrets of the Hart (1995)
• Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die (1994)
• Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart (1994)
• Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is (1994)
• Hart to Hart Returns (1993)

As a screenwriter,[22] he is credited with two television productions:

• World Without Walls (1988)
• "Hunter" (1 episode, 1986) - 62 Hours of Terror (1986) TV episode (story)

As an explorer, "Polster was one of the first outsiders to contact and gain acceptance from the Motilone Indians of Columbia/Venezuela, the Cofans and Quechua of Ecuador, and other peoples along the Amazon.[23]

As a journalist, Polster has written for publications including Sports Illustrated,[4]The Los Angeles Times,[3]TRUMP Magazine, [24] and Yahoo.com.[25] He has covered such diverse subjects as: Indira Gandhi in New Delhi;[26] Cannibals in New Guinea;[3] Sugar Ray Leonard in the Duran/Leonard Superfight in New Orleans;[27] Police strike;[28] Potential of Geothermal Energy;[29] Oil vs. Environmentalists in the Louisiana Bayous;[30] BB-War Gamesters;[31] and BB Swashbucklers [32]

• A Guest in the Jungle - Mercury House, 1987
• Brown - Longstreet Press, 1995
• THE GRADUATE STUDENT - Stay Thirsty Press, 2009

• At the Beach, New Orleans Review, 1980
• PWC, SMOKE MAGAZINE, Spring, Issue 2 Vol 1 page 168, 1996

• New Orleans Press Club Award for Feature Photo in 1980 for Cambodian Refugee Camps 1979 (UPI)
• First Place - New Orleans Press Club Award (Best Column) for a Three-Part Series on Duran/Leonard Superfight, 1981[27]
• Ann Arbor Film Festival - Judge 1981
• First Place, "A" Stock Hydroplane Championship of Maine[33]
• California (Marin) Art Council Grant 1987
• MacDowell Fellowship 1989[34]
• Wurlitzer Foundation Grant 1989
• The Critics’ Choice Award 1995-96 [11]
• Tennessee Williams Festival 1995 - Guest Speaker
• William Faulkner Festival 2001 and 2002 - Guest Speaker
• Who’s Who in America [35]