Norman Rush (born October 24, 1933) is an American

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

most of whose introspective

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s and short stories are set in

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

in the 1980s. He won the U.S.

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

and the 1992 ''

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''/

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...

International Fiction Prize for his novel ''

Mating In biology, mating is the pairing of either opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for the purposes of sexual reproduction. ''Fertilization'' is the fusion of two gametes. '' Copulation'' is the union of the sex organs of two sexually repr ...

''.

Life and career

Rush was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and raised in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, the son of Roger and Leslie (Chesse) Rush. He graduated from

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

in 1956. During the Korean War, he was sentenced to two years incarceration for his status as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

to the war, but was released on parole after nine months. After working for fifteen years as a book dealer, he changed careers to become a teacher and found he had more time to write. He submitted a short story about his teaching experiences to ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', which was published in 1978. Rush and his wife Elsa were co-directors of the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

from 1978 to 1983, which provided material for his short story collection ''Whites'' (1986). ''Whites'' was a finalist for the 1987

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...

. His Botswana experience also served as the setting for his novels ''

'' (1991) and '' Mortals'' (2003). Rush lives with his wife, Elsa, in Rockland County, New York, in a farmhouse which they have shared since 1961, located on High Tor Mountain. Rush's third novel, ''Subtle Bodies'', was published in September 2013.

Published works

* ''Whites'', short stories Alfred A. Knopf, 1986, — finalist for the

* ''

'', Knopf, 1991, — winner of the

National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987, the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, bu ...

"National Book Awards – 1991"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established with the goal "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: ...

. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
(With essays by Lee Taylor Gaffigan and Jim Shepard from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) * '' Mortals'', a novel Knopf, 2003, . * ''Subtle Bodies'', a novel, Knopf, 2013, .

References

External links

* * Keillor, Garrison. ''Writer's Almanac''. October 24, 2006. * The Bat Segundo Show
70 minute radio interview
. September 3, 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rush, Norman 1933 births 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists National Book Award winners Living people Swarthmore College alumni Writers from San Francisco American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Writers from Oakland, California