Chris Rutkowski
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Presentation: TBD
Chris Rutkowski is a Canadian science writer and educator with degrees in astronomy and education. He has a passion for teaching science concepts to children and adults and enjoys bringing science “down to Earth” for the average person. Since the mid-1970s, he’s been studying reports of UFOs and other unusual phenomena including lake monsters, Sasquatch, and the paranormal, writing about his investigations and research in various media.
He has nine published books on UFOs and related issues, including Unnatural History (1993), Abductions and Aliens (1999), A World of UFOs (2008), the children’s book I Saw It Too! (2009), The Big Book of UFOs (2010), was a contributor to the Sasquatch story collection In The Woods (2014), and is co-author of When They Appeared (2017), written with Stan Michalak. His new book Canada’s UFOs: Declassified (2021) details some of the most remarkable UFO cases investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the National Research Council of Canada.
Rutkowski has appeared on numerous television programs, including Unsolved Mysteries, Sightings, CBC’s Undercurrents and A&E’s The Unexplained. (He was even a “mystery guest” on Front Page Challenge, and, though he usually won’t admit it, was actually the subject of an article in the tabloid newspaper The Weekly World News!) His radio appearances have included CBC’s Quirks and Quarks, Ideas, Sightings on the Radio, on Carpe Diem on Talk America, which was simulcast on AM, shortwave and on the Internet. And yes, he’s been on Coast to Coast. He had a weekly commentary on CBC North Country and had segments on Definitely Not the Opera.
In addition, he has appeared on podcasts and documentary TV series, including Unsolved Mysteries, UFO Hunters, Sightings, Eye2thesky, The Paracast, Discovery’s Close Encounters, NASA’s Unexplained Mysteries, A&E’s The Unexplained, and T&E’s Encounter: UFO.
Rutkowski has been involved in many writing and media projects for more than 30 years. In 1996, he was the co-writer and narrator for the Canadian TV special The Monster of Lake Manitoba, about a Loch-Ness-like creature reported in a Canadian lake. In 1989 he was producer of the CKY music special Making a Joyful Noise. As far back as 1975, he was the host of UFORUM, a bi-weekly program that aired on a local cable channel.
In a rather different and unique medium, Rutkowski has been the producer, writer and a narrator for several feature planetarium programs, including The UFO Phenomenon (1976), The Planets (1977), The UFO Primer (1981), Moonlight Serenade (1983) and Amateur Nights (1989). He also wrote Strange Tales, a weekly column in the Northern Times newspaper in Thompson, Manitoba, from 1984 to 1985. In addition, he has been a book reviewer for the Winnipeg Free Press since 1987.
In other literary endeavours, Rutkowski is a member of the Winnipeg-based Off the Wall writer’s group, and contributed stories to its chapbooks Sex, Death and Grain Elevators (1998), Where in the World is Carman, Manitoba? (1999) and Alternapeg (2015).
He has taught space and astronomy courses through the University of Manitoba continuing education division and the City of Winnipeg Parks and Recreation Program. He is past-president of both the Winnipeg Science Fiction Society and the Winnipeg Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, Rutkowski has been a member of the avant-garde jazz group the Experimental Creative Music Workshop since 1983. He has played at numerous public performances and has appeared on several recordings by the ensemble.
Rutkowski recently retired from his position as Media Relations Officer at the University of Manitoba. He had been writing for the former U of M Bulletin and other university publications and was editor of NOVUM, which featured articles on research at the University of Manitoba. He most recently had been writing web content for UM Today.
He is administrator of several UFO-related Facebook groups, including UFO UpDates, a forum continuing the groundbreaking work of famed journalist Errol Bruce-Knapp, which began in 1996.