MONTANA AUTHOR & WRITER
Russell Rowland was born in Bozeman, Montana, in 1957. His first novel, In Open Spaces, made the San Francisco Chronicle bestseller list and was named among the "Best of the West 2002" by the Salt Lake City Tribune. It received a starred review in Publisher's Weekly.
Rowland's second novel, The Watershed Years, has garnered rave reviews. The Missoulian said, "Rowland writes with precision about the fabric of people's lives - fabric that sometimes flutters smoothly, but that sometimes is tattered by family conflicts."
Rowland lives in his home town of Billings, where he teaches at the Gotham Writers' Workshops [writingclasses.com]. He has taught at Boston University and was a writer in residence at St. Mary's College. Russell holds a BA from Pacific Lutheran University and an MA in Creative Writing from Boston University. He also offers private consulting for fellow writers, and is available for public readings and speaking engagements. He has been a frequent guest speaker for business organizations throughout Montana.
Rowland was a MacDowell fellow in 2005, and his work has appeared in several publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, The Big Sky Journal, a story compilation called Literary Cash, a collection of stories inspired by the music of Johnny Cash, and Roger, the literary journal from Roger Williams University. His story, "Ed Got a Job," which appeared in the online journal failbetter.com, was nominated for the Million Writer's Award.
WEST OF 98:
In August of 2011, the University of Texas Press released WEST OF 98: LIVING AND WRITING THE NEW AMERICAN WEST, edited by Russell Rowland and Lynn Stegner. This collection of essays by writers from every state west of the Mississippi explores what it means to each of them to have grown up in the West, and how they see the Western identity changing. The Billings Gazette said the book is "a crazy-quilt definition of the Western landscape and its people." Among the writers featured in this anthology are Larry McMurtry, Louise Erdrich, Rick Bass, Gretel Ehrlich, Barry Lopez, Maxine Hong Kingston, William Kittredge, and Ursula Le Guin.
Reviews
AND COMMENTS
The pages for In Open Spaces and The Watershed Years include reviews of these books.Russell Rowland offers TIPS FOR WRITING A NOVEL in an interview posted on creative-writing-now.com, including the role of "place" in a novel and how setting affects characters and plot. He describes common problems and solutions for fiction writers, along with tips for the journey to publication.
David Abrams of January Magazine interviewed Rowland for its literary profiles series.
The Write Question is a radio program exploring the world of writing and publishing in the western United States. Produced by Chérie Newman, the interview is online [HERE].
From MTPR: Holiday advice from Lenore Hershey: GIVE BOOKS. "They're never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal."
This interview on MTPR was produced by Chérie Newman and Michael Marsolek, with thanks to Barbara Theroux, Prageeta Sharma, Renée McGrath, and Kim Anderson. The Write Question is supported in part by The Greater Montana Foundation and by Humanities Montana.
to Bob at TypoFinders.com, who created my first website. Need copyediting? He's the best.
