When famed Bear 399--the Matriarch of the Tetons--took her four cubs on a walkabout around Kevin Grange's neighborhood in Jackson Hole, WY, he felt conflicted about having grizzlies on the landscape and wasn't sure if he was "a bear person." So, he ventured into the wild with biologists, naturalists, conservationists, and guides to learn everything he could about brown bears, see if he could understand them, and answer the important question: how can we coexist?

Please join us on Tuesday, October 29, at 6pm for an evening of grizzly bears and banter at Shakespeare & Co. as Kevin Grange--in partnership with the Vital Ground Foundation--talks about his new book Grizzly Confidential: An Astounding Journey Into the Secret Life of North America's Most Fearsome Predator(Harper Horizon, September 2024) which details his journey from being unsure if he was a bear person to being an advocate of respect for grizzlies and their place in the wild. Kevin will follow up his multimedia presentation--which features professional photos and video from his travels to such places as Kodiak Island, McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, and Yellowstone--with a Q&A, moderated by Matt Hart of Vital Ground. The result will be an entertaining, inspiring and informative evening. 

Author Bio
Kevin Grange is a firefighter paramedic in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He is the award-winning author of Wild Rescues: A Paramedic's Extreme Adventures in Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton, Lights and Sirens: The Education of a Paramedic, and Beneath Blossom Rain: Discovering Bhutan on the Toughest Trek in the World. He has written for National Parks, Backpacker, Utne Reader, Yoga Journal, and the Orange County Register. He has worked as a park ranger and paramedic at Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Teton National Parks.

About the Book
In Grizzly Confidential, author Kevin Grange—former paramedic and park ranger at Yellowstone and Grand Teton—comes face-to-face with North America’s most fearsome predator, Ursus Arctos.

His quest takes him from his home in the Tetons to an eerie, mist-shrouded island of gigantic bruins; from the Bear Center at Washington State University—where scientists believe the secrets of hibernation might help treat diabetes, heart disease, and obesity in humans—to the dark underbelly of for-profit wildlife parks, illegal animal trade and black markets hawking bear bile.

Along the way, he meets fascinating biologists and activists and discovers that everything he knew about grizzlies was wrong. Ultimately, his odyssey leads him to find answers on a remote corner of the Alaskan Peninsula where, for the last fifty years, humans have coexisted peacefully alongside the largest gathering of brown bears on the planet. 

Grizzly Confidential is about bears but also the inspiring people who look after them. This is a fast-paced, gripping story that educates, entertains, and gives a sneak peek into the secret life of a well-known species. Part science, part travelogue, and a passionate plea for bear conservation, Grizzly Confidential is a lively account for anyone who loves the outdoors and learning about the natural world.

Kevin Grange