Mark Richard is an American

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, pla ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

. He is the author of two award-winning short story collections, ''The Ice at the Bottom of the World'' and ''Charity,'' a bestselling novel, ''Fishboy'', and ''House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer's Journey Home''.

Early life

Mark Richard was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and grew up in Texas and Virginia. As heard on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR: He grew up in the 1960s in a racially divided rural town in Virginia. His family was poor. He was born with deformed hips and spent years in and out of charity hospitals. When his father walked out, his mother withdrew further into a world of faith. In a new memoir "House of Prayer No. 2" he details growing up in the American South as a "The Special Child" and how the racial tensions and religious fervor of his home town animate his writing today. He attended college at

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexing ...

Career

His first book, the short story collection ''The Ice at the Bottom of the World,'' won the 1990 PEN/Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award. His short stories have appeared in

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

, Harper's, ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'', GQ,

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phi ...

, The Oxford American, Grand Street, Shenandoah, The Quarterly, Equator, and Antaeus. He is the recipient of the PEN/Ernest Hemingway Award, a

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federa ...

fellowship, a

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard E ...

, a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, the Mary Francis Hobson Medal for Arts and Letters, and a National Magazine Award for Fiction. He has been writer-in-residence at the University of California Irvine, University of Mississippi, Arizona State University, the University of the South, Sewanee, and The Writer's Voice in New York. His journalism has appeared in

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, Harper's, Spin, ''

'', George, Detour, Vogue, The Oxford American, and ''

The Southern Review ''The Southern Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established by Robert Penn Warren in 1935 at the behest of Charles W. Pipkin and funded by Huey Long as a part of his investment in Louisiana State University. It publishes ficti ...

'', and he has been a correspondent for the BBC. He has also worked as a screenwriter, writing the 2008 war drama '' Stop-Loss''. He wrote and produced on several television series, such as ''

Chicago Hope ''Chicago Hope'' is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It originally aired on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charitable hospital in Chicago, Illinoi ...

'', '' The Man in the High Castle'', '' Fear the Walking Dead'' and '' Hell on Wheels''. He co-created and wrote the Showtime limited series, '' The Good Lord Bird'', which starred Ethan Hawke as abolitionist John Brown.

Personal life

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Jennifer Allen and their three sons.

References

External links

Podcast: Stephen Usery Interviews Mark RichardProfile at The Whiting Foundation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richard, Mark Washington and Lee University alumni Living people 1955 births Writers from Lake Charles, Louisiana 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American male screenwriters National Endowment for the Arts Fellows University of California, Irvine faculty University of Mississippi faculty Arizona State University faculty Sewanee: The University of the South faculty American magazine journalists 20th-century American poets American male poets Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winners Journalists from Mississippi Novelists from Louisiana Novelists from Mississippi Novelists from Arizona Novelists from Tennessee American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from Mississippi 20th-century American male writers