Phil Cousineau

PHIL COUSINEAU is a writer, teacher, editor, independent scholar, documentary filmmaker, travel leader, and storyteller. His life-long fascination with the art, literature, and history of culture has taken him on many journeys around the world. He lectures frequently on a wide range of topics--from mythology, film, and writing, to beauty, travel, sports, and creativity. He has published more than 20 non-fiction books and has more than 15 scriptwriting credits to his name.

Born at an army hospital in Columbia, South Carolina in the 1950s, Phil Cousineau grew up just outside of Detroit, once known as "the Paris of the Midwest," as he’s fond of saying. While moonlighting in a steel factory he studied journalism at the University of Detroit. Before turning to writing books and films full-time, Cousineau’s peripatetic career included stints as a sportswriter, playing semi-professional basketball in Europe, harvesting date trees on an Israeli kibbutz, painting 44 Victorian houses in San Francisco, and teaching screenwriting at the American Film Institute.

BOOKS

Cousineau's long-awaited book on creativity, Stoking the Creative Fires: 9 Ways to Rekindle Passion and Imagination, was released in May 2008. Other recent books include two books of poetry: Night Train and The Blue Museum. Other works include A Seat at the Table: Huston Smith in Conversation with Native Americans on Religious Freedom, The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life, and The Olympic Odyssey, an original work about rekindling the fire that sparked the ancient Olympic Games.

Once and Future Myths: The Power of Ancient Stories in Modern Times and The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred both appeared on several bestsellers’ lists. The Soul Aflame: A Modern Book of Hours, and The Book of Roads, a volume of Cousineau’s travel stories and reflections, are also acclaimed titles.

Cousineau's other books include Design Outlaws: On the Ecological Frontier; Soul: An Archaeology: Readings from Socrates to Ray Charles; The Soul of the World: A Modern Book of Hours; The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work; and Deadlines: A Rhapsody on a Theme of Famous and Infamous Last Words, the winner of the Fallot Literary Award. Cousineau also worked with the drummer John Densmore on his bestselling autobiography, Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and The Doors, and is a contributor to more than 25 other books. Cousineau's books have been translated into nine languages.

FILMS

His screenwriting credits in documentary films, which have won more than twenty-five international awards, include: A Seat at the Table, Ecological Design: Inventing the Future, Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey, The Peyote Road, The Red Road to Sobriety, Your Humble Serpent: The Life of Reuben Snake, Wiping the Tears of Seven Generations, Eritrea: March to Freedom, The Presence of the Goddess, The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell, and the 1991 Academy Award-nominated Forever Activists: Stories from the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

An expert on mythology and film and the "hero journey" structure of screenplays, Cousineau consults on many types of film projects, from quirky independent documentaries to big studio productions.

APPEARANCES

Cousineau is an inspiring speaker. He has been the keynote presenter at major conferences as diverse as the Ansel Adams Centennial Celebration in Yosemite National Park and the European Unitarian Universalist’s Fall Retreat in the Netherlands. He has been invited to lecture at distinguished venues such as the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; Stanford University; Pacifica Graduate Institute; the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago; the Swedenbourg Library; Syracuse University; and the University of Tennessee.

He has collaborated and appeared with many of the great thinkers and philosophers of our time, including mentors Joseph Campbell and Huston Smith, as well as Robert A. Johnson, James Hillman, Brian Swimme, Robert Bly, Brother David Steindl Rast, Marija Gimbutas, Angeles Arrien and others. He enjoys collaborating with musicians and artists such as David Darling, R.B. Morris, and Gregg Chadwick.

Cousineau has appeared as an expert on CNN, The Discovery Channel and Fox News. An on-camera expert for BBC-2’s Joseph Campbell: Hollywood’s Myth Master tribute and the Fox Network special, Star Wars: The Legacy, Cousineau has also been featured on Public Radio's The Savvy Traveler, PRI's The World, CBC's Cross Country Check Up and many other syndicated radio programs. He has been interviewed for articles in Time magazine, Newsweek and The New York Times. He appeared on the Hallmark Channel's New Morning Show sharing his views on subjects such as the "soul of place" and "the creative fire." Look for his expert commentary and mythic take on movies among the special features on the DVDs of Constantine, Double Indemnity, the deluxe Superman boxed set, The Natural, Wonder Woman, and Justice League, among others.

CURRENT PROJECTS

Cousineau is currently the host of Global Spirit, a new cross-cultural and transnational television series debuting on Link TV in Spring 2009. The series explores global issues ranging from sacred music and spiritual activism, to the search for ecstatic experience, forgiveness, and attitudes toward death and dying.

Additionally, Cousineau is crafting a mythic baseball story for young readers as well as two new original nonfiction works.

He lives with his family on Telegraph Hill in North Beach, San Francisco.