Richard Russo

This is the 6th post in our Author of the Week series.



Richard Russo was born in 1949 in New York. He has earned a Bachelor's degree, a Master of Fine Arts Degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree. He was actually a professor at a university when his first book was published. Mohawk was released in 1986 The book tells the story of a town and a family that have fallen on hard times and their struggle to overcome everything that threatens to keep them down.

Richard Russo's work has always been semi-autobiographical and it is perhaps that reason that they are so vivid and emotional. After his first book was published he continued writing and he published The Risk Pool in 1988. He continued to release a novel every few years and his reputation as a writer grew.

In 1994, Robert Benton adapted Richard's novel Nobody's Fool into a movie which he directed. In 1998 Richard co-wrote the film Twilight which was also directed by Robert Benton.

In 2002, Richard Russo was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel Empire Falls. This spawned a huge interest in the novel and it was eventually made into an HBO teleplay of the same name. Richard has continued writing novels and screenplays with his most recent release being his 2009 novel That Old Cape Magic.

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