David Guterson (born May 4, 1956 in Seattle, Washington) is best known as the author of the novel Snow Falling on Cedars , which won many awards, including the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award. It was adapted for a motion picture starring Ethan Hawke. A former high school English teacher, he is also a magazine journalist. He also wrote , a thoughtful discussion of why he and his wife teach their children at home and out in the world rather than sending them to school. His 2003 novel, "Our Lady of the Forest ," focuses on a fictional Marian apparition witnessed by a teenage girl in Washington state.