Brett Ortler is a writer, a naturalist, and an editor. As the editor at Adventure Publications, he’s edited more than 300 titles pertaining to nature and the natural world, including best-selling field guides to the night sky, rocks and minerals, birds, bugs and insects, and pretty much everything in between.

When he’s not working, he’s usually outside looking for rocks, photographing bugs, or looking at mushrooms. He is the author of a number of popular introductions to the natural world, including The Fireflies Book, The Mosquito Book, Animal Tracks Activity Book, and many others. He’s also an essayist and poet, with work published in Fatherly, Scary Mommy, and Yahoo! Parenting, as well as many other venues. His first collection of poetry, Lessons of the Dead, was released in 2019. He lives in Minnesota with his wife, two kiddos, and three dogs.