Ivan Doig was born in Montana and grew up along the Rocky Mountain Front, the dramatic landscape that inspired much of his writing. A former ranch hand, newspaperman, and magazine editor, Doig was the author of 13 novels, most recently The Bartender's Tale, Sweet Thunder and Last Bus to Wisdom (Aug 2015), and four works of nonfiction, including his classic first book, the memoir This House of Sky. He was a National Book Award finalist and received the Wallace Stegner Award and a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western Literature Association, among numerous other honors.
His major theme is family life in the past, mixing personal memory and regional history. The first three Montana novels—English Creek, Dancing at the Rascal Fair, and Ride with Me, Mariah Montana—form the so-called "McCaskill trilogy," covering the first centennial of Montana's statehood from 1889 to 1989. As the western landscape and people play an important role in his fiction, he was been hailed as the new dean of western literature, a worthy successor to Wallace Stegner.
He lived in Seattle until his death in April 2015 aged 75 from multiple myeloma. His final novel is Last Bus to Wisdom (Aug 2015)
Ivan Doig's website
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