Jon Krakauer: Jon Krakauer. Writer: Into the Wild. Raised in Corvallis, Oregon, Jon Krakauer graduated from Hampshire College in 1976, after which he worked as a carpenter and commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska before embarking on a career as a writer. He is the author of 8 books, including Into the Wild, Into Thin Air (which was one of three finalists for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction), Under the Banner...