Richard Bausch (born April 18, 1945) is an American novelist, short story writer, and Professor in the Writing Program at

Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California, United States. Encompassing eleven colleges, the university is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The school maintains its foundi ...

in Orange, California. He has published thirteen novels, nine short story collections, and one volume of poetry and prose. He joined with the writer and editor

Ronald Verlin Cassill Ronald Verlin Cassill, known by his pen name R. V. Cassill, (May 17, 1919 – March 25, 2002) was a writer, reviewer, editor, painter and lithographer. He is most notable for his novels and short stories, for which he won several award ...

to bring out the 6th edition of ''The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction''. Since Cassill's death in 2002, he has been the sole editor of that anthology, bringing out the 7th and 8th editions.

Early life and education

Bausch was born in 1945 in

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. He is the

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

brother of author

Robert Bausch Robert Bausch (April 18, 1945 – October 9, 2018) was an American fiction writer, the author of nine novels and one collection of short stories. He was a Professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College, and he had taught at the Unive ...

. He served in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

between 1966–1969, and toured the Midwest and South singing in a rock band, doing stand-up comedy, and writing poetry. He holds a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

, and an M.F.A. from the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

. Since 1974, he has taught English and Creative Writing at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, George Mason University, the

University of Memphis The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

, the University of Tennessee,

Beloit College Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1846 when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It has an enrollment of roughly 1,000 undergradua ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, and Chapman University. He was previously Heritage Chair in Writing at George Mason University; and Moss Chair of Excellence in the Writing Program at the University of Memphis He now lives in Orange, California.

Writing

Bausch's novels and stories vary from explorations of fear and love in family life, to novels with historical backdrops, including ''Rebel Powers'' (1993), ''Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America, and All the Ships at Sea'' (1996), ''Hello to the Cannibals'' (2002), and ''Peace'' (2008). He published his first short story in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' in April 1983: "All the Way in Flagstaff, Arizona" was initially an 800-page novel that he cut down, calling the process "like passing a kidney stone". He is a contributor of short stories to various periodicals, including ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ''Esquire'', ''Harper's'', ''The New Yorker'', ''Playboy'', ''Ploughshares'', ''Narrative'', and ''The Southern Review.'' His work has also been represented in anthologies, including '' O. Henry Prize Stories'' and ''

The Best American Short Stories ''The Best American Short Stories'' is a yearly anthology that's part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the ''BASS'' has anthologized more than 2,000 short stories, including works by some of the ...

''.

Awards

Bausch received 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 feder ...

grant in 1982, a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1984, the Hillsdale Prize of the Fellowship of Southern Writers in 1991, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award in 1992, the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

' Award in Literature in 1993, and was elected to the Fellowship of Southern Writers in 1995. (He served as chancellor of the Fellowship from 2007 to 2010.'')'' His novel, ''Take Me Back'' (1982) and his first story collection, ''Spirits and Other Stories'' (1987), were nominated for the

PEN/Faulkner Award The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living Americans, Green Card holders or permanent residents. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of ...

, Two of his short stories, "The Man Who Knew Belle Star" and "Letter to the Lady of the House", won the

National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

in fiction for ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'', respectively. In 2004, he won the PEN/Malamud Award for short story excellence. His novel ''

Peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

'' won the 2009

Dayton Literary Peace Prize The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is an annual United States literary award "recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace" that was first awarded in 2006. Awards are given for adult fiction and non-fiction books published at some point ...

. and the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction of American Library Association. Bausch was the 2012 winner of the $30,000 Rea Award for his work in the short story.

Publications

Novels

*''Real Presence'', 1980 *''Take Me Back'', 1981 *''The Last Good Time'', 1984 *''Mr. Field's Daughter'', 1989 *''Violence'', 1992. *''Rebel Powers'', 1993 *''Good Evening Mr. and Mrs. America, and All the Ships at Sea'', 1996 *''In the Night Season'', 1998 *''Hello to the Cannibals'', 2002 *''Thanksgiving Night'', 2006 *''Peace'', 2008 *''Before, During, After'', 2014 *''Playhouse'', 2023

Short fiction

*''Spirits and Other Stories'', 1987 *''The Fireman's Wife and Other Stories'', 1990 *''Rare & Endangered Species'', 1994 *''Selected Stories of Richard Bausch'' (The Modern Library), 1996 *''Someone to Watch Over Me: Stories'', 1999 *''The Stories of Richard Bausch'', 2003 *''Wives & Lovers: 3 Short Novels'', 2004 *''Something Is Out There'', 2010 *''Living in the Weather of the World'', April 2017

Collection

* ''These Extremes'',

Louisiana State University Press The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of University Pres ...

, 2009

Anthologies edited

*''The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction'', 6th edition (with

) *''The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction'', 7th edition, 2005 *''The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction'', 8th edition, 2015

Film adaptations

To date, three feature films have been made from Bausch's work: '' The Last Good Time'', in 1994, adapted by

Bob Balaban Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, director, producer and writer. Aside from his acting career, Balaban has directed three feature films, in addition to numerous television episodes and films, and was one of the pro ...

from Bausch's novel of that title; ''Endangered Species'', in 2017, adapted from six Bausch stories by French director Gilles Bourdos, and ''Recon'', in 2019, adapted by Robert David Port, from Bausch's novel ''Peace''. A fourth film is in progress, adapted by Julie Lipson, from the Bausch story "The Man Who Knew Belle Starr."

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bausch, Richard 1945 births Living people American historical novelists American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American male short story writers American military writers Chapman University faculty George Mason University alumni George Mason University faculty Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) Novelists from Tennessee Novelists from Virginia PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners PEN/Malamud Award winners 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers American twins University of Iowa alumni University of Memphis faculty