John C. Behrens

John "Jack" Behrens (1933) grew up in Lancaster, OH, the son of a successful insurance broker. He was an US Army aerial reconnaissance/combat photographer and later a Pacific Stars & Stripes correspondent in Korea. His writing and teaching careers began after graduation from Bowling Green State and Penn State Universities. He spent 44 years teaching magazine writing at Ohio Wesleyan, Marshall University and Utica College. Of 30 authored and edited books, his 1976 book Typewriter Guerrillas was selected a best seller by E&P. His trilogy on big bands has brought praise from bandleaders and fans for reviving the big band era. Behrens' latest work is America's Music Makers: Big Bands & Ballrooms, 1912-2011 (AuthorHouse).

A former business columnist for Elks and American Printer magazines for 20 years, he earned an Ohio Award for outstanding journalism achievement , a UC alumni award for outstanding teaching and a Columbia University Journalism Key Award for his work in creating and developing a student press repository. He continues as editor of www.writerjackweb.com.