Richard Russo is one of American literature's foremost
chroniclers of small-town life, making him a contemporary heir to the likes of
Sinclair Lewis and Sherwood Anderson. His novels are set in fading industrial
towns throughout the northeastern United States, and the towns are delineated so
precisely that they almost become characters in their own right. Russo pays keen
attention to the socioeconomic divisions that structure small-town life, the
invisible but palpable lines that determine where people live, work, study, eat,
drink. One of his recurring themes is the way that the decline of the factory
town, as it succumbs to the brutal realities of globalization, affects the lives
of its citizens who would otherwise be resistant to change. Though the settings
and themes of his novels change—academic life in rural Pennsylvania in
Straight Man, a tannery that poisons the local river in Bridge of Sighs—Russo
has said, "Really, what I am writing about in all of these is, class and work."
Russo was born on July 15, 1949 and raised in Gloversville, New
York, a town much like the fictional ones he depicts. He earned a B.A. (1967), a
M.F.A. (1980), and a Ph.D. (1979) from the University of Arizona. Russo has
taught at Southern Illinois University, The Iowa Writer's Workshop,
Warren Wilson College, and Colby College. He was able to retire from teaching
after his novel Nobody's Fool was made into a 1994 movie starring Paul
Newman.
He has published six novels, one of which, Empire Falls
(2001), won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for literature. His other novels include
Mohawk (1986), The Risk Pool (1988), Nobody's Fool (1993),
Straight Man (1997), and Bridge of Sighs (2007). He has also
published a collection of short stories, The Whore's Child and Other Stories
(2002).
Russo is, above all, a storyteller and when he isn't writing
fiction, he writes screenplays. Russo co-wrote the 1998 film Twilight
with director Robert Benton, who also adapted and directed Nobody's Fool.
Russo wrote the teleplay for the HBO adaptation of Empire Falls and the
screenplay for the 2005 film Ice Harvest. Though he has recently started
to venture into nonfiction, he has said that he has no interest in the role of
the public intellectual and doesn't believe it is the novelist's duty to be
political. "I'm a professional liar," he explains, "I tell stories. I make
things up."
He has two grown daughters and lives in coastal Maine with his
wife.
This biography was last updated on 11/02/2007.
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