Larry Woiwode
Encyclopedia
Larry Alfred Woiwode is an America
n writer who lives in North Dakota
, where he has been the state's Poet Laureate
since 1995. His work has appeared in The New Yorker
, Esquire
, The Atlantic Monthly
, Harpers
, Gentleman's Quarterly, The Partisan Review and The Paris Review. He is the author of five novel
s; two collections of short stories, a commentary titled "Acts," a biography of the Gold Seal founder and entrepreneur, Harold Schafer, Aristocrat of the West, a book of poetry, Even Tide; and reviews and essays and essay-reviews that have appeared in dozens of publications, including The New York Times
and The Washington Post Book World.
His first novel, What I'm Going to Do, I Think (1969
) won acclaim, and received the William Faulkner Foundation Award for the "best first novel of 1969"; Beyond the Bedroom Wall (1975
) sold over 1,000,000 copies, and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Book Critics Circle Award. He has received two awards from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, including the Medal of Merit, rewarded every six years, for a "distinguished contribution to the art of the short story": a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship and a Lannan Foundation Studio Award; the John Dos Passos Prize, for a distinguished body of work, and the Aga Khan Prize for short fiction, and the Theodore Roosevelt Roughrider Award, the highest honor a North Dakota citizen may receive, among other awards and prizes, and he has published two dozen stories in The New Yorker.
Born in Carrington, North Dakota
, Woiwode attended the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) for four-and-a-half years, where he worked with John Frederick Nims and Charles Shattuck, and after serving as copywriter and voice-over and live talent for a CBS affiliate in the area he left to live in New York
for five years; later he returned to New York state, after the death of John Gardner, and took Gardner's position as director of the Creative Writing Program at the State University of New York, Binghamton; he was a tenured full professor there, besides directing the Creative Writing Program. He spent several years living and working on short stories and his third novel in the Chicago area before returning to North Dakota in 1978, where he lives twelve miles outside Mott
and raises registered quarterhorses.
Besides his tenure at SUNY-Binghamton, he has served as Writer in Residence at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and conducted summer sessions as a professor at Wheaton College, Chicago, and the C.S. Lewis Seminars at Cambridge; he has also conducted seminars and workshops in fourteen states of the U.S., all of the Canadian provinces but British Columbia, and in England, Lithuania, and the Scandinavias. His work has been translated into a dozen languages, and Johnathan Yardley, of the Washington Post Book Work, named Beyond the Bedroom Wall one of the 20 best novels of the 20th Century. Woiwode has published a dozen books in a variety of genres, six of which have been named notable books of the year by the New York Times Book Review. His most recent publications are two memoirs that were widely received and reviewed, What I Think I Did and A Step From Death. He is currently Writer in Residence at Jamestown College
in Jamestown, North Dakota
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n writer who lives in North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
, where he has been the state's Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
since 1995. His work has appeared in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
, Harpers
Harpers
The Harpers are a fictional and semi-secret organization in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons...
, Gentleman's Quarterly, The Partisan Review and The Paris Review. He is the author of five novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s; two collections of short stories, a commentary titled "Acts," a biography of the Gold Seal founder and entrepreneur, Harold Schafer, Aristocrat of the West, a book of poetry, Even Tide; and reviews and essays and essay-reviews that have appeared in dozens of publications, including The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and The Washington Post Book World.
His first novel, What I'm Going to Do, I Think (1969
1969 in literature
The year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Booker Prize is awarded.* "Penelope Ashe", author of the bestselling novel Naked Came the Stranger, is found to be several people who each took a turn writing a chapter of what they described as "junk" in...
) won acclaim, and received the William Faulkner Foundation Award for the "best first novel of 1969"; Beyond the Bedroom Wall (1975
1975 in literature
The year 1975 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* August 12 — with the 20-year time limit stipulated by Thomas Mann at his death having expired, sealed packets containing 32 of the author's notebooks were opened in Zurich, Switzerland.* Writing under the...
) sold over 1,000,000 copies, and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Book Critics Circle Award. He has received two awards from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, including the Medal of Merit, rewarded every six years, for a "distinguished contribution to the art of the short story": a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship and a Lannan Foundation Studio Award; the John Dos Passos Prize, for a distinguished body of work, and the Aga Khan Prize for short fiction, and the Theodore Roosevelt Roughrider Award, the highest honor a North Dakota citizen may receive, among other awards and prizes, and he has published two dozen stories in The New Yorker.
Born in Carrington, North Dakota
Carrington, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,268 people, 961 households, and 594 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,531.9 people per square mile . There were 1,057 housing units at an average density of 713.9 per square mile...
, Woiwode attended the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) for four-and-a-half years, where he worked with John Frederick Nims and Charles Shattuck, and after serving as copywriter and voice-over and live talent for a CBS affiliate in the area he left to live in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for five years; later he returned to New York state, after the death of John Gardner, and took Gardner's position as director of the Creative Writing Program at the State University of New York, Binghamton; he was a tenured full professor there, besides directing the Creative Writing Program. He spent several years living and working on short stories and his third novel in the Chicago area before returning to North Dakota in 1978, where he lives twelve miles outside Mott
Mott, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 808 people, 362 households, and 205 families residing in the city. The population density was 894.4 people per square mile . There were 441 housing units at an average density of 488.1 per square mile...
and raises registered quarterhorses.
Besides his tenure at SUNY-Binghamton, he has served as Writer in Residence at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and conducted summer sessions as a professor at Wheaton College, Chicago, and the C.S. Lewis Seminars at Cambridge; he has also conducted seminars and workshops in fourteen states of the U.S., all of the Canadian provinces but British Columbia, and in England, Lithuania, and the Scandinavias. His work has been translated into a dozen languages, and Johnathan Yardley, of the Washington Post Book Work, named Beyond the Bedroom Wall one of the 20 best novels of the 20th Century. Woiwode has published a dozen books in a variety of genres, six of which have been named notable books of the year by the New York Times Book Review. His most recent publications are two memoirs that were widely received and reviewed, What I Think I Did and A Step From Death. He is currently Writer in Residence at Jamestown College
Jamestown College
Jamestown College is a private liberal arts college founded by the Presbyterian Church located in Jamestown, North Dakota. It has about 1,000 students enrolled today and has been co-educational from its founding....
in Jamestown, North Dakota
Jamestown, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 15,527 people, 6,505 households, and 3,798 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,246.7 per square mile . There were 6,970 housing units at an average density of 559.6 per square mile...
.
Works
- Words Made Fresh: Essays on Literature and Culture (essays, 2011)
- A Step from Death (memoir, 2008)
- What I Think I Did: A Season of Survival in Two Acts (memoir, 2000)
- Aristocrat of the West: The Story of Harold Schafer (nonfiction, 2000)
- Acts (a commentary on the book of Acts, 1993)
- Silent Passengers: Stories (stories, 1993)
- Indian Affairs (novel, 1992)
- Neumiller Stories(stories, 1989)
- Born Brothers (novel, 1988)
- Poppa John (novel, 1981)
- Eventide (poems, 1977)
- Beyond the Bedroom Wall (novel, 1975)
- What I'm Going to Do, I Think (novel, 1969)