Neil Hollander (born 9 July 1939) is one of the most popular American writers today. Most of his books (he has written more than 30 books) are bestseller, and several of them have been translated into several languages. Hollander was born in New York City and soon after graduating he started to traveled around the world. He visited many places and resided is countries like Thailand, Costa Rica, Brazil and other. In the past decade he has been living and working in Paris, France and there is considered to be one of the living cultural symbols of the city.
Hollander graduated from the University of Washington - Academy for theater and film. At the beginning of his career he worked as a journalist and war correspondent. He is also known to be an exceptional sailor who back in the 70's crosses the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans all by himself in a small sailboat. On that voyage that lasted almost three years he wrote a book about the working sail which was later used as a screenplay for his documentary film "The Last Sailors." Many of Hollander's books are intended for kids. Some of them are included in the collection "100 best children's books".
Other than being acknowledged as author of books, Hollander is known for his works as filmmaker. He has been directing and writing all of his films, mostly documentaries. Reaching high publicity, those films were always narrated by people that are well-known in the world of cinema and people that publicly speak about some important issues in the world. His film "The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail" was shot in 15 countries and is narrated by the great Orson Welles. The films displays some amazing footages and is a rare chance to see people around the globe working with their ancient crafts, harnessing the wind and the sea for their livelihood. As a narrator, Welles appears in another film of Hollander, "GoldLust." Other famous people that worked with Neil Hollander include Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston and Henry Rollins. The later collaborated with Hollander on his latest films "Burma: A Human Tragedy," "Under the Radar: Burma" and "H for Hunger" which was made for the World Food Program. The films was shot in parts of Burma, Bangladesh and Africa and is available in several languages including English and French.