About the Author

Tim Mulherin first visited northwest lower Michigan’s Leelanau and Grand Traverse counties in 1986, traveling from Indianapolis, Indiana, and hasn’t been the same since. Over the years he kept extensive field notes of his outdoor adventures there, which resulted in this book, a tribute to the region and its people, and an encouragement for visitors to respect this national treasure.

Mulherin earned a bachelor of arts degree in English, with a concentration in nonfiction writing, from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). He went on to obtain a master of arts degree in journalism from IUPUI and a master of science in management degree from Indiana Wesleyan University. He also taught for a decade in IUPUI’s Department of English.

In fall 2021, after working in public education for 16 years, he retired from his position as Chief Executive Officer at Irvington Community School, Inc., a K-12 public charter school system on the east side of Indianapolis. Since then, he’s returned to his calling as a writer. His next book, This Magnetic North: Candid Conversations on a Changing Northern Michigan, explores the impact of the pandemic, climate change, and tourism on the region. Extensively researched through dozens of interviews, the book represents many uniquely divergent voices throughout northern Michigan, an area that has seen explosive growth bringing considerable change to an area with historically rich cultural traditions, including that of the Odawa and Ojibwe Native Peoples. This Magnetic North will be published by Michigan State University Press in June 2025.

Mulherin and his wife have owned a cottage in the village of Cedar for the past 15 years, and before that, on Spider Lake just southeast of Traverse City. He now splits his time between Indianapolis and Cedar, preferring Cedar and northern Michigan by far. But he loves his deeply rooted Hoosier wife and intends to stay married, for better or for worse.