Kenneth Miller is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles, specializing in science, medicine, the environment, and social movements. He has reported from four continents for publications including Time, Life, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, Salon, Discover, Aeon, Elle, Reader’s Digest, and Prevention. His book Mapping the Darkness: The Visionary Scientists Who Unlocked the Mysteries of Sleep was published by Hachette in October 2023.
Ken is a contributing editor for Discover, and a former West Coast editor of Reader’s Digest, senior editor at People, and senior writer at Life. He has appeared on The Today Show, Larry King Live, CNN Newsroom, and other TV and radio programs.
His honors include the John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism, the ASJA Outstanding Article Award for science writing, the June Roth Memorial Award for medical writing, the Wilbur Award for Religious Reporting, and the E.T. Meredith Award for Creative Excellence. He has also been a finalist for a National Magazine Award.
Ken has a master’s in journalism from Columbia University, where he was awarded the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship. He speaks Spanish and French, and plays keyboards and harmonica. He lives with his wife and two kids in a canyon west of the city.
He is represented by Ethan Basoff at WME.
Subjects
Archaeology, cancer research, cardiology, climate change, crime, environmental science, human interest, immunology, neuroscience, sleep science, social justice, sustainable agriculture, transplant medicine. And, occasionally, celebrity interviews.
Skills
Writing Credits
In alphabetical order: AARP Magazine, Aeon, Discover, Elle, Esquire, Ladies’ Home Journal, LA Weekly, Leapsmag, Life, Los Angeles Times Magazine, More, Mother Jones, Parade, Parents, People, Prevention, Reader’s Digest, Rolling Stone, TakePart, Time, and other print and online publications.
Book Credits
As sole author: Mapping the Darkness: The Visionary Scientists Who Unlocked the Mysteries of Sleep (Hachette Books, October 2023). As senior writer: Decades of the Twentieth Century: The Way We Were. LIFE Books, 1999. The LIFE Millennium. LIFE Books, 1998. LIFE Album 1995: Pictures of the Year. LIFE Books, 1996. Our Times: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Twentieth Century. Turner Books, 1995
Awards, Honors, Appointments
National Magazine Award Finalist
John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism
ASJA Outstanding Article Award for Science/Business/Technology
June Roth Award for Medical Writing
E.T. Meredith Award for Creative Excellence
Wilbur Award for Religious Reporting
EDI Award, National Easter Seal Society
Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency
Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship
As author, unless indicated otherwise.
A crusading mycologist says fungi are key to human and environmental health—and can clean up everything from oil spills to nuclear meltdowns.
Read
The Midas Touch
In Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, the continent’s biggest deposit could produce more gold than the Klondike gold rush—and put the world’s largest salmon fishery out of business.
Beating Cancer at Its Own Game
How an iconoclastic cancer researcher gamed the immune system and unleashed a potent new weapon against the disease.
Why Neglected Tropical Diseases Should Matter to Americans
Little-known afflictions such as Chagas, chikungunya, and schistosomiasis bring misery and disability to nearly 2 billion people around the world. Here's why we need to pay more attention to them—stat.
The Brain of Ben Barres
A neurobiologist’s legacy: rewriting how cells operate — and how they go rogue.
Are They Forgivable?
In a national act of redemption, Rwanda aims to embrace 30,000 perpetrators of mass ethnic slaughter now returning home.
