A native of Blackville, New Brunswick, Wayne Curtis started fishing the Miramichi River and its tributaries when he was eight years old. In Fishing the Miramichi, he shares over forty years of guiding and salmon-angling experience. But Curtis goes beyond regaling readers with yarns about his fabled river; Fishing the Miramichi richly proves his skill as a historian, a naturalist, a teacher, and a fine essayist. Although fishing is in his blood, Curtis is devoted to the preservation of the Atlantic salmon. His Miramichi culture grounded him in nature, and fishing with conservationists such as Ted Williams and Lee Wulff reinforced his convictions. Fishing the Miramichi sets stories, angling instructions and character sketches of outfitters and guides in a context of responsible sportsmanship.

Wayne Curtis was born in Keenan, New Brunswick, in 1943. He was educated at the local schoolhouse and St. Thomas University where he majored in English. He has won the Richards Award for short fiction, The Lieutenant Governor's Award, and the CBC Drama Awards. Wayne's stories have appeared in literary journals: The Cormorant, The Fiddlehead, Pottersfield Portfolio, The Nashwaak Review, The Antigonish Review, The Dalhousie Review, New Brunswick Reader, New Maritimes and the anthologies Atlantica, Country Roads, The STU Reader, Winter House, The Christmas Secret and Winter. His short stories have been dramatized on CBC radio and CBC television.

In the spring of 2005, Wayne Curtis received an Honorary Doctorate Degree (letters) from St. Thomas University. In 2014 he was awarded the Order of New Brunswick. In 2018 he received the Senate Sesquicentennial Medal from the Canadian Senate and in 2023 he received The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Award. Wayne has lived in southern Ontario, Yukon Territories and Cuba. He currently divides his time between his cabin on the Miramichi River and his apartment in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Our Christmas Guest is his twenty-second published book.

Wayne Curtis' profile page

"A garland of local lore gathered by a fishing poet." — Gene Hill, Field and Stream

"The best little book about the Miramichi you're likely to find for many seasons to come." — Atlantic Salmon Journal