Richard Russo

Richard Russo is regarded as the best writer about small-town America since Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis.  When Russo left his own native small town in upstate New York, it was with hopes of becoming a college professor.  But during his graduate studies, he began to have second thoughts about the academic life.  While finishing up his doctorate, he took a creative writing class; and a new career path opened in front of him.

Russo’s first novel set the tone for much of his later work.  The story of an ailing industrial town and the interwoven lives of its inhabitants, MOHAWK won critical praise for its witty, engaging style.  The fictional town of Mohawk, N.Y., also provided the setting for Russo’s second novel, THE RISK POOL.

His third novel, NOBODY’S FOOL, the story of a divorced and underemployed 60-year-old man coping with the sudden reappearance of his estranged son, was made into a film by Robert Benton, starring Paul Newman.  Russo next drew on some of his experiences in academia for STRAIGHT MAN, which chronicles the exploits of an oddball professor at a third-rate university.

Russo returned to the blue-collar characters and small-town setting of his earlier novels for the Pulitzer Prize-winning EMPIRE FALLS, this time exploring past and present relationships in a once-thriving town in Maine whose textile mill and shirt factory have gone bust.

“There’s a version of myself that I still see in a kind of alternative universe and it’s some small town in upstate New York or someplace like that,” Russo said in an interview.  That ability to envision himself in the bars and diners of small-town America has served him well.

Last summer Russo published his first short story collection, THE WHORE’S CHILD.  Russo is currently working on a new novel, the screenplay for “Empire Falls” (for Paul Newman and HBO), and other screen projects.  He lives with his wife in coastal Maine.

Also, if you look closely you can see Richard in Robert Benton’s new movie, THE HUMAN STAIN, starring Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins.