About Mike Lunsford      

Mike Lunsford is a writer and photographer from rural Parke County Indiana. A retired teacher of English, Humanities, and American History, he is the author of eight books and regularly contributes columns, features, and photographs to the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, Terre Haute Living magazine, and Indiana Connection magazine. 

Mike has been well rewarded for his life in teaching, writing, and photography.  The winner of six “Reader’s Choice Best Columnist Awards,” he has been honored by “Hoosier Outdoor Writers” for both his writing and photography and was named a “Polaris Award” winner for a lifetime of achievement by his high school alma mater, Terre Haute North Vigo.  Among his many teaching awards was a WTHI-Golden Apple Award, the Indiana Rural and Small Schools Teacher of the Year Award, and an Eli Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Riverton Parke High School Panther Hall of Fame in the spring of 2026.

Mike was honored with the James Mason Service Award from the Wabash Valley Audubon Society for his advocacy of “natural resources conservation,” and regularly teaches for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Indiana State University, is active with the Parke County Resource Center, the Parke-Vermillion Retired Teachers Association, and the Wabash Valley Audubon Society.  He has spoken or presented at nearly 300 community events.

Photography honors include those from The River City Art Association, the Covered Bridge Art Association, the Wabash Valley Art Guild, The Gaslight Art Colony, the Link Art Gallery, Arts-Illiana, and the Swope Art Museum.

Mike was raised on the Vigo County side of the County Line Road and enjoyed a childhood of creeks and woods and animals.  He earned both his BS and MS degrees in English and American History from Indiana State University and taught in the Southwest Parke Community School Corporation for 39 years.  He lives on 15 acres of woods in southern Parke County with his wife, Joanie, of 47 years, has two adult children, and two grandsons.

Lunsford’s latest book is An Age of Wonder, to be released in late 2026. Prior to it, he published This Old World in 2020, Field Notes and Other Stories in 2017, The Bridge That Carries You Over in 2015, A Windy Hill Almanac in 2013, A Place Near Home in 2011, Sidelines, The Basketball Stories of Mike Lunsford in 2009, and The Off Season in 2008.  Mike’s photography will be featured in a one-man show at the Link Art Gallery in Paris, Illinois in the fall of 2027.

Photos Caption: All photos were taken within a few miles of Mike’s home in southern Parke County by Mike Lunsford.