Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Readalikes
Richard Russo knows small town America. This masterful novelist has an uncanny sense of the way life works in the gritty industrial towns of the American Northeast. From the gossip and the resentments to the people and the cafes, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Russo chronicles blue-collar America in ways constantly surprising and utterly revealing.
Russo's previous works include seven novels and one collection of short stories. His 2001 novel, Empire Falls, won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was also adapted into an HBO mini-series, starring Paul Newman, Ed Harris, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Helen Hunt. His latest book, Elsewhere, came out in 2012.
Russo earned a bachelor's degree, a master's in fine arts, and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. He has two daughters and lives with his wife in Camden, Maine.
This bio was last updated on 01/08/2014. We try to keep BookBrowse's biographies both up to date and accurate, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's a tough task. So, please help us - if the information about this author is out of date or inaccurate, and you know of a more complete source, please let us know. Authors and publishers: If you wish to make changes to a bio, send the complete biography as you would like it displayed so that we can replace the old with the new.
Was there a particular event or image that sparked Empire Falls?
When I finish a novel, it's hard to go back and try to reconstruct its
beginnings. It's a little like an interrogation: what did you know and when did
you know it? Here are a couple of things, though. When I was living in
Waterville, Maine, some years ago, a factory closed down that had employed a
large number of women who had been sewing famous-label men's dress shirts for
much of their lives. They'd done everything they could to save their jobs and
the factory, but the multi-national company that owned it shut them down anyway.
That struck me as a story that was playing out all over the country, if not the
world. From the beginning of my writing career, I've always been interested in
ordinary people swept up in economic and political forces they can't begin to
comprehend, as well as in the changing face of American labor. Becoming a writer
has only deepened my sympathies for working people, who are always, it seems to
me, the first to be sold out.
The other event that had burrowed deep was the school shooting in Paducah,
especially the question it begged: how could such a thing happen here? The
answers that are typically...
Lauren Acampora's fiction has appeared in the Paris Review, Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, New England Review, and Antioch Review. Raised in Connecticut, she now lives in Westchester County, New York, with her husband, ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Everybody's Fool
Try:
The Wonder Garden
by Lauren Acampora
Paul Benjamin Auster was born on February 3, 1947 in Newark, New Jersey. His father, Samuel Auster, was a landlord; his mother, Queenie was about 13 years younger than her husband; the marriage was not a happy one. ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Empire Falls
Try:
Sunset Park
by Paul Auster
We recommend 46 similar authors
A crowning achievement of one of the finest American writers at work today.
About the book
Sold on a Monday
by Kristina McMorris
An unforgettable novel inspired by a stunning piece of history.
Reader Reviews
The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton
A rich, spellbinding new novel from the author of The Lake House. On sale Oct 9.
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends books that we believe to be best in class. Books that will whisk you to faraway places and times, that will expand your mind and challenge you -- the kinds of books you just can't wait to tell your friends about.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info & giveaways by email.
