Biography
Peter Canning has been a paramedic in Hartford, Connecticut since January of 1995. His first book Paramedic: On the Front Lines of Medicine (1997) details his journey from speechwriter for the Governor of Connecticut to caregiver on the city streets. Rescue 471: A Paramedic's Stories (2000) is the sequel.
His latest nonfiction book about the heroin epidemic, Killing Season: A Paramedic's Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Opioid Epidemic published by Johns Hopkins University Press was selected by Amazon as one of the ten best nonfiction books of April 2021.
He is the author of two EMS novels, Mortal Men (2012) and Diamond in the Rough (2016), and the short story collection, Promised Land (1994)
Since 2006, Canning has written the influential EMS blog: StreetWatch: Notes of a Paramedic. Writing as "Medicscribe" he posts reguarly about the opioid epidemic and other topics from an EMS perspective.
A graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, Canning attended the Phillips Exeter Academy and the University of Virgina. He has worked many jobs in his life: tennis instructor, aide to United States Senator, taxi driver, meatpacker, line cook, telephone solicitor, book and movie reviewer, factory worker, health department administrator, speechwriter and political campaign director before finding his place in life as a paramedic. In addition to being a field paramedic, he is the EMS Coordinator at UConn Health John Dempsey Hospital, in Farmington, Connecticut.
Canning lives in West Hartford with his wife, Chevaughn, and their three children.
Agent
Jane Dystel of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC
Killing Season- Peter Canning's Latest Book
Amazon Editor's Choice: Best Nonfiction April 2021
As Seen on C-SPAN BOOKS: Peter Canning Talks Killing Season
UCONN Magazine Profile: Double Jeopardy