Kenneth Edward Barnes

Kenneth Edward Barnes has been called, “A modern day Mark Twain” by a local newspaper reporter for the first book he wrote titled Life Along Little Pigeon Creek. “He shows a Twain sense of humor in conversation and in his writing. He writes in the ‘down to earth’ style that Twain used to capture the heart of America.”

He was born on April 4, 1951, along the banks of Little Pigeon Creek in the southern tip of Indiana, downstream from where Abraham Lincoln grew up. As a child, he loved fishing from the muddy banks of the creek and roaming in the nearby woods. He never missed an opportunity to be in the outdoors where he could see all of God’s creation.

Ken is a nationally published writer, poet and the author of over one hundred books. Some of his most popular ones are: The Mammoth Slayers; A Cabin in the Woods; Mysteries of the Bible; Life Along Little Pigeon Creek; Kenny’s Children’s Stories; In Search of a Golden Sparrow; Buddy and Rambo: The Orphaned Raccoons; Barnestorming the Outdoors; The Arkansas River Monster collection, and Do Pets go to Heaven? This could soon change, however, as he has recently written several others.

The author became a member of Hoosier Outdoor Writers in 1993, where he has won several awards from them in their annual writing contest. He has also been a guest speaker for the Boy Scouts, Daughters of the American Revolution, Teachers Reading Counsel, Kiwanis Club, and at several schools, libraries and churches.

Ken has been an outdoor columnist and contributing editor for several newspapers and magazines: Ohio Valley Sportsman, Kentucky Woods and Waters, Southern Indiana Outdoors, Fur-Fish-Game, Wild Outdoor World, Mid-West Outdoors, and a hard cover book titled From the Field. He has written for the Boonville Standard, Perry County News, Newburgh Register and Chandler Post. He has had poems published locally and nationally. One titled The Stranger went to missionaries around the world. The poem, Princess, was also published locally and nationally, and won honorable mention in a national contest. His best-loved poem is Condemned and has been published by the tens of thousands. Nearly every single poem he has written is in his colored paperback book, Poems from the Heart and My Favorite Poems.

Ken has worked for an Evansville, Indiana, television station where he had outdoor news segments aired that he wrote, directed and edited. He also had film clips that were aired on the national television shows Real TV and Animal Planet. At this time, he has several short videos on YouTube and on GodTube.

Studying nature since childhood, he is a self-taught ornithologist and a conservationist. In 2009, he became founder and president of the Golden Sparrow Nature Society, the name of which was chosen because of his first published book. Ken loves to share his knowledge and love of nature, and it has been said that he is a walking encyclopedia on birds and animals. Because of this, he recently published an E-book titled Birds and Animals of Southern Indiana. It has over 300 photos of birds and animals, most of which he photographed himself. He frequently updates it with new photos.

He has followed his dream of being a writer since 1978 and now lives in a cabin in the woods. Being an individualist, he cleared the land, dug a well by hand and built the house himself, which uses only solar electric. He even wrote a book titled Solar Electric: How does that work?

Comments or questions on the author’s work can be left on his Facebook page at: Kenneth Edward Barnes. All of Ken’s books can also be seen on his Author Page at Amazon.