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=Kimball Taylor=

Kimball Taylor is a long-time contributor to Surfer Magazine and the author of three books: Return by Water: Surf Stories and Adventures and Drive Fast and Take Chances and The Coyote's Bicycle: The Untold Story of 7,000 Bicycles and the Rise of a Borderland Empire. Taylor holds a BA in journalism and an MFA in creative writing from San Diego State University and is an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.

Childhood
Kimball was born in San Diego, CA in 1973. He became part of a community of young surfers there. His love for the sport and wanting to share it initially kindled his interest in writing.

Education
He went to (public?) schools in San Diego. After graduating High School, he earned a BA in Journalism from San Diego State University's School of Communications and continued on to earn an MFA in Creative Writing and Journalism.

Today
Taylor is involved in writing and speaking about ocean issues, the environment and bringing attention to the complex realities of the U.S.-Mexican Border. His book "The Coyote's Bicycle" is currently in development for a forthcoming television series.

Novels
In his first novel, Return by Water: Surf Stories and Adventures Taylor takes readers traveling with him and illuminates surfers' lives around the world with amazing sense of place and deft character portraits of the famous, ordinary and irascible surfer alike. Published August 1st 2005 by Dimdim Publishing.

In 2013 Taylor and Dimdim published a follow-up novel: Drive Fast and Take Chances about surf obsession. It contains profiles of 15 people notably fixated with riding, hunting down, and discovering waves.

In 2008 while on assignment investigating thousands of tires that regularly wash down the Tijuana River during rains, Taylor stumbled upon a massive and mysterious pile of discarded bicycles. His unraveling the mystery of those thousands of bicycles became the genesis of his third novel: The Coyote's Bicycle: The Untold Story of Seven Thousand Bicycles and the Rise of a Borderland Empire which was Published February 22nd 2016 by Tin House Books.

Articles
Kimball Taylor has written over 27 articles for SURFER Magazine

His story about Secret spots, “The Search,” and surf imperialism in Mainland Mexico was published in Volume 15 number 6 of The Surfers Journal.

He has also had work published in The Atlantic magazine

Speaking Engagements
Kimball Taylor is sometimes asked to speak about Writing and Journalism. He also speaks on Ocean issues from his years of writing for surfing journals. Due to his unique insights and contacts gained while researching and writing "The Coyote's bicycle" Taylor is occasionally asked to speak on the issues of The Mexican Border and the economics of Illegal Immigration, two issues that have gained prominence since President Donald Trump made them a |central policy of his presidency.

In 2017 he was asked to be on a Panel Discussion of California at the 22nd annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

In 2016 he was asked to be part of a Panel Discussion of the U.S.-Mexico Border at the fourth annual San Antonio Book Festival

Awards and honors
In 2017 Taylor was selected as a finalist in the 86th Annual California Book Awards by the Commonwealth Club of California. The annual California Book Awards, which began in 1931, recognize the state’s best writers and illuminate the wealth and diversity of literature written in California. It is one of the oldest book awards in the country, and one of the first to recognize the talent of John Steinbeck and Oakley Hall. Other honorees include: C.S. Forester, Amy Tan, Michael Chabon, Michael Pollan and Jared Diamond.