Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American

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 other ...

and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single 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 old ...

author, and writer of a series of novels featuring the character Frank Bascombe. Ford's first collection of short stories, '' Rock Springs'', was published in 1987. In the United States, Ford received the 1996

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

for his novel ''

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

''. In Spain, he won the

Princess of Asturias Award The Princess of Asturias Awards (, ), formerly the Prince of Asturias Awards from 1981 to 2014 (), are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Princess of Asturias Foundation (previously the Prince of Asturias Foundation) to individuals ...

for 2016. In 2018, Ford received the

Park Kyong-ni Prize Park Kyong-ni Prize (Korean: 박경리 문학상) is an international literary award based in South Korea. It was established in 2011 in honor of Park Kyongni, known for her series '' Toji''. The award was founded and sponsored by the Toji Found ...

, an international literary award from South Korea. His novel ''Wildlife'' was adapted into a 2018 film of the same name, and in 2023 Ford published '' Be Mine'', his fifth work of fiction chronicling the life of Frank Bascombe.

Early life

Ford was born in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

, the only son of Parker Carrol and Edna Ford. Parker was a traveling salesman for

Faultless Starch Faultless Brands is a manufacturing business, producing laundry, household cleaning products, air care, and lawn and garden products. The company headquarters are located in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. History In 1886, Major Thomas G. ...

, a

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

company. Of his mother, Ford said, "Her ambition was to be, first, in love with my father and, second, to be a full-time mother." When Ford was eight years old, his father had a severe

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

, and thereafter Ford spent as much time with his grandfather, a former

prizefighter Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

and hotel owner in

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

, as he did with his parents in Mississippi.Guagliardo 2001, p.xiii. Ford's father died of a second heart attack in 1960. In Jackson, Ford lived across the street from the home of author

Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short-story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel '' The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerou ...

. Ford's grandfather had worked for a railroad. At the age of 19, before deciding to attend college, Ford began work on the

Missouri Pacific The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

train line as a locomotive engineer's assistant, learning the work while doing the job. Ford received 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 ...

degree from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

. Having enrolled to study hotel management, he switched to English. After graduating, he taught junior high school in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...

, and enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

but was discharged after contracting

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

. At university he met Kristina Hensley, his future wife and they married in 1968. Despite mild

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

, Ford developed a serious interest in

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. He has stated in interviews that his dyslexia may have helped him as a reader since it forced him to read books slowly and thoughtfully. Ford briefly attended law school but quit and participated with the creative writing program at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

, to pursue a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

degree, which he received in 1970. Ford chose this course simply because "they admitted me. I remember getting the application for

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

and thinking they'd never have let me in. I'm sure I was right about that too. But typical of me, I didn't know who was teaching at Irvine. I didn't know it was important to know such things. I wasn't the most curious of young men, even though I give myself credit for not letting that deter me." Actually,

Oakley Hall Oakley Maxwell Hall (July 1, 1920 – May 12, 2008) was an American novelist. He was born in San Diego, California, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and served in the United States Marine Corps, Marines during World War II ...

and

E. L. Doctorow Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama, including the ...

were teaching there and Ford has acknowledged they influenced him.This citation is now only available in its via the

Web Archive The WARC (Web ARChive) archive format specifies a method for combining multiple digital resources into an aggregate archive file together with related information. These combined resources are saved as a WARC computer file, file which can be rep ...

. It was originally cited here: In 1971, he was selected for a three-year appointment in the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Society of Fellows.

Early career

Ford published his first novel, ''A Piece of My Heart'', the story of two unlikely drifters whose paths cross on an island in the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

, during 1976, and followed it with ''The Ultimate Good Luck'' during 1981. During the interim he briefly taught at

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. Despite good notices, the books sold little, and Ford retired from fiction writing to become a writer for the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

magazine ''Inside Sports''. "I realized," Ford said, "there was probably a wide gulf between what I could do and what would succeed with readers. I felt that I'd had a chance to write two novels, and neither of them had really created much stir, so maybe I should find real employment, and earn my keep." During 1982, the magazine was terminated, and when ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' did not hire Ford, he resumed writing fiction, composing ''The Sportswriter'', about a failed novelist turned sportswriter who undergoes an emotional crisis after the death of his son. It was named one of ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine's five best books of 1986 and was a finalist for the

PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction 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 ...

. Ford followed up that success with ''Rock Springs'' (1987), a story collection —set mostly in

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

—that includes what remain some of his most anthologized short stories.

Mid-career and acclaim

Ford's 1990 novel ''

Wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

'', a story of a

golf professional turned firefighter, met with mixed reviews and middling sales, but by the end of the 1990s Ford was increasingly sought after as an editor and contributor to various projects. Ford edited the 1990 ''

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 ...

'', the 1992 ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

Book of the American Short Story'', the Fall 1996 "fiction issue" of ''

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bost ...

'', and the 1998 ''Granta Book of the American Long Story''. In the latter volume's "Introduction," Ford stipulated that he preferred the designation "long story" instead of the term "novella." For the publishing project

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published more than 300 volumes by authors ...

, Ford edited a two-volume edition of the selected works of the Mississippi writer

, which was published during 1998. During 1995, Ford published the novel ''

'', a sequel to ''The Sportswriter'', featuring the continued story of its protagonist, Frank Bascombe. Reviews were positive, and the novel became the first to win both the

and the

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 ...

. During the same year, Ford was chosen as winner of the

Rea Award for the Short Story The Rea Award for the Short Story is an annual award given to a living United States, American or Canada, Canadian author chosen for unusually significant contributions to short story fiction. The Award The Rea Award is named after Michael M. Rea ...

, for outstanding achievement for that genre. He ended the 1990s with a well-received collection of short stories, ''Women With Men'', published during 1997. The ''Paris Review'' termed him a "master" of the short story genre.

Later life and writings

Ford lived for many years in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

in the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the (; ; ), is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans () was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Square" in English), a ...

, on lower

Bourbon Street Bourbon Street (, ) is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Extending twelve blocks from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue, Bourbon Street is famous for its many bars and strip clubs. Tourist numbers have b ...

then in the Garden District of the same city, where his wife, Kristina, was the executive director of the city planning commission. For a while Ford and his wife resided in

East Boothbay, Maine Boothbay is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,003 at the 2020 census. It includes the neighborhoods of Back Narrows, Dover, Linekin, Oak Hill, Ocean Point, Spruce Shores, and the villages of East Boothbay and T ...

. As of 2023, Ford lives in

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

where he bought a house. During the intervening years, Ford lived in other locations, usually in the United States, as he pursued a

peripatetic Peripatetic may refer to: *Peripatetic school, a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece *Peripatetic axiom, in philosophy *Peripatetic minority, a mobile population moving among settled populations offering a craft or trade. *Peripatetic Jats T ...

teaching career. He obtained a teaching appointment at

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794. The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...

during 2005 but kept the job for only one semester. During 2008 Ford was an adjunct professor of the

Oscar Wilde Centre The Oscar Wilde Centre is an academic research and teaching unit in Trinity College Dublin. It was founded in 1998, and is located at 21 Westland Row, the house in which Oscar Wilde was born. This building, which is on the perimeter of Trinity, wa ...

with the School of English at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, Ireland, teaching in the Masters programme in creative writing. Starting December 29, 2010, Ford assumed the job of senior fiction professor at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

during the autumn of 2011, replacing

Barry Hannah Barry Hannah (April 23, 1942 – March 1, 2010) was an American novelist and short story writer from Mississippi.Kellogg, Carolyn (March 2, 2010)"Author Barry Hannah, 67, has died" ''Los Angeles Times''. Retrieved May 18, 2013. Hannah was born in ...

, who died during March 2010. During the autumn of 2012, he became the Emmanuel Roman and Barrie Sardoff Roman Professor of the Humanities and Professor of Writing at the

Columbia University School of the Arts The Columbia University School of the Arts (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York (state), New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, ...

. As the new century commenced, he published another story collection, ''A Multitude of Sins'' (2002), followed by the novels ''The Lay Of The Land,'' —the third in his Bascombe series— in 2006 and ''

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

'', published during May 2012. According to Ford, ''The Lay Of The Land'' completed his series of Bascombe novels but ''Canada'' was a stand-alone novel. In April 2013, Ford read from a new Frank Bascombe story without revealing to the audience whether it was part of a longer work. By 2014, it was confirmed that the story was to appear in the book ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', published during November of that year. The latter work consists of four interconnected novellas (or "long stories"), all narrated by Frank Bascombe.Richard Ford
, Lyceum Agency, 2014 ''Let Me Be Frank With You'' was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. It did not win the prize but the selection committee praised the book for its "unflinching series of narratives, set in the aftermath of

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy) was an extremely large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...

, insightfully portraying a society in decline.""The 2015 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Fiction"
The Pulitzer Prizes. As in the preceding decade, Ford continued to assist with various editing projects. During 2007, he edited the ''New

Book of the American Short Story'' and in 2011 he edited ''Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar: Stories of Work''. During May 2017, Ford published a memoir, ''Between Them: Remembering My Parents''. In 2018, ''Wildlife'' was adapted into a film of the same name by director

Paul Dano Paul Franklin Dano (; born June 19, 1984) is an American actor. His work includes both independent and mainstream projects, and his accolades include nominations for a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

and screenwriter

Zoe Kazan Zoe Swicord Kazan (; born September 9, 1983) is an American actress and writer. She has acted in films such as '' The Savages'' (2007), '' Revolutionary Road'' (2008), and '' It's Complicated'' (2009). She starred in '' Happythankyoumoreplease'' ...

. It was released to widespread critical acclaim. In 2020, Ford's short story collection, ''Sorry For Your Trouble'', was published. His novel, ''Be Mine'', was published in June 2023 and is the fifth —and presumably final— book in Ford's so-called "Bascombe series."

Reception

Ford began publishing his short stories in the 1980s, which corresponded with an American renaissance in the short story that centered around

Raymond Carver Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He published his first collection of stories, '' Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?'', in 1976. His breakout collection, '' What We Talk About ...

(1938–1988). So there was a tendency early on to associate Ford's stories in ''Rock Springs'' with

minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

and its offshoot, an aesthetic style known as ''

Dirty realism Dirty realism is a term coined by Bill Buford of ''Granta'' magazine to define a North American literary movement. Writers in this sub-category of realism are said to depict the seamier or more mundane aspects of ordinary life in spare, unadorned ...

'' that referred to Carver's lower-middle-class subjects or the protagonists Ford portrays in ''Rock Springs''. "Dirty realism" and "minimalism" came to be associated with a long list of writers during the 1970s and 1980s, including

Tobias Wolff Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff (born June 19, 1945) is an American short story writer, memoirist, novelist, and teacher of creative writing. He is known for his memoirs, particularly '' This Boy's Life'' (1989) and '' In Pharaoh's Army'' (1994). H ...

Ann Beattie Ann Beattie (born September 8, 1947) is an American novelist and short story writer. She has received an award for excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the short story ...

Frederick Barthelme Fredrick Barthelme (born October 10, 1943) is an American novelist and short story writer of minimalist fiction. He is the director of the Center For Writers at The University of Southern Mississippi and editor of ''New World Writing'' (formerl ...

, Larry Brown,

Jayne Anne Phillips Jayne Anne Phillips (born July 19, 1952) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer who was born in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia. She is a former English professor at Rutgers-Newark from 2005 to 2020 and ...

, and

Gordon Lish Gordon Lish (born February 11, 1934) is an American writer. As a literary editor, he championed many American authors, particularly Raymond Carver, Barry Hannah, Amy Hempel, Rick Bass, Tom Spanbauer, and Richard Ford. He is the father of the no ...

. However, many of the characters in the novels about Frank Bascombe (''The Sportswriter'', ''Independence Day'', ''The Lay of the Land'', ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', ''Be Mine''), including the protagonist, enjoy degrees of material affluence and

cultural capital In the field of sociology, cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, social capital, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society. Cultural capital functions as ...

not normally associated with dirty realism. Ford's writing demonstrates "a meticulous concern for the nuances of language ... ndthe rhythms of phrases and sentences". He has described his sense of language as "a source of pleasure in itself—- all of its corporeal qualities, its syncopations, moods, sounds, the way things look on the page". Besides this "devotion to language" is what he terms "the fabric of affection that holds people close enough together to survive". Comparisons have been drawn between Ford's work and the writings of

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

and

Walker Percy Walker Percy, Oblate of Saint Benedict, OblSB (May 28, 1916 – May 10, 1990) was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first, ''Th ...

. Ford resists such comparisons, commenting, "You can't write ... on the strength of influence. You can only write a good story or a good novel by yourself." Ford's works of fiction "dramatize the breakdown of such cultural institutions as marriage, family, and community," and his "marginalized protagonists often typify the rootlessness and nameless longing ... pervasive in a highly mobile, present-oriented society in which individuals, having lost a sense of the past, relentlessly pursue their own elusive identities in the here and now." Ford "looks to art, rather than religion, to provide consolation and redemption in a chaotic time."

Controversies

Ford once sent

Alice Hoffman Alice Hoffman (born March 16, 1952) is an American novelist and Young adult literature, young-adult and Children's literature, children's writer, best known for her 1995 novel ''Practical Magic (novel), Practical Magic'', which was adapted for ...

a copy of one of her books with bullet holes in it after she angered him by unfavorably reviewing ''The Sportswriter''. In 2004, Ford spat on

Colson Whitehead Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead (born November 6, 1969) is an American novelist. He is the author of nine novels, including his 1999 in literature, 1999 debut ''The Intuitionist''; ''The Underground Railroad (novel), The Underground Railroad'' (2016) ...

when encountering him at a party two years after Whitehead published a negative review of ''A Multitude of Sins'' in ''The New York Times''. Thirteen years later, Ford remained unrepentant. Writing in ''Esquire'' in 2017, Ford declared that "as of today, I don't feel any different about Mr. Whitehead, or his review, or my response."

Awards and honors

* 1987 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Fiction for ''The Sportswriter''; again in 2007 for ''The Lay of the Land''; and in 2013 for ''Canada'' * 1995

, for outstanding achievement in that genre * 1996

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 ...

, for ''

'' * 1996

, for ''Independence Day'' * 2001 PEN/Malamud Award, for excellence in short fiction * 2005

St. Louis Literary Award The St. Louis Literary Award has been presented yearly since 1967 to a distinguished figure in literature. It is sponsored by the Saint Louis University Library Associates. Winners Past Recipients of the Award: *2025 Colson Whitehead *2024 J ...

from the

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

Library Associates * 2008

Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959 in litera ...

* 2013

Prix Femina étranger The Prix Femina étranger is a French literary award established in 1985. It is awarded annually to a foreign-language literary work translated into French. List of laureates See also * Prix Femina * Prix Femina essai References

{{DE ...

, for ''

'' * 2013

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction __NOTOC__ The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year. They are named in honor of ni ...

, for ''Canada'' * 2015

Fitzgerald Award for Achievement in American Literature Fitzgerald may refer to: People * Fitzgerald (surname), a surname * Fitzgerald Hinds, Trinidadian politician * Fitzgerald Toussaint (born 1990), former American football running back Place Australia * Fitzgerald River National Park, a nation ...

part of th
F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival
* 2015

, finalist, for ''Let Me Be Frank with You'' * 2016

in Literature * 2018

* 2018 Siegfried Lenz Prize * 2019

Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction (formerly the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction and Library of Congress Lifetime Achievement Award for the Writing of Fiction) is an annual book award presented by the Librarian ...

Selected works

Novels

* ''A Piece of My Heart'' (1976) * ''The Ultimate Good Luck'' (1981) * '' The Sportswriter'' (1986) * ''

'' (1990) * ''

'' (1995) * '' The Lay of the Land'' (2006) * ''

'' (2012) * '' Let Me Be Frank With You'' (2014) * '' Be Mine'' (2023)

Story collections

* '' Rock Springs'' (1987) * ''Women with Men: Three Stories'' (1997) * ''A Multitude of Sins'' (2002) * ''Vintage Ford'' (2004) * '' Sorry for Your Trouble: Stories'' (2020)

Memoir

* ''Between Them: Remembering My Parents'' (2017)

Screenplays

* ''

Bright Angel ''Bright Angel'' is a 1990 American drama film directed by Michael Fields, and starring Dermot Mulroney, Lili Taylor, and Sam Shepard. The film follows two teenagers, George and the transient Lucy, who travel from their home in Montana to Wyoming ...

'' (1990)

As contributor or editor

* ''The

Book of the American Short Story'' (1992) * ''The Granta Book of the American Long Story'' (1999) * ''The Essential Tales of Chekhov'' (1999) * Foreword to

Alec Soth Alec Soth (born 1969) is an American photographer, based in Minneapolis. Soth makes "large-scale American projects" featuring the midwestern United States. ''New York Times'' art critic Hilarie M. Sheets wrote that he has made a "photographic care ...

, ''NIAGARA'' (Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2006) * ''The New Granta Book of the American Short Story'' (2007) * ''Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar: Stories of Work'' (2012) * Foreword to Maude Schuyler Clay, ''Mississippi History'' (Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2015)

References

Works cited

* Guagliardo, Huey (ed.) ''Conversations with Richard Ford'' Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2001. * Guagliardo, Huey. ''Perspectives on Richard Ford: Redeemed by Affection''. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2000.

External links

Work

"Nobody's Everyman"
''

Bookforum ''Bookforum'' is an American book review magazine devoted to books and the discussion of literature. After announcing that it would cease publication in December 2022, it reported its relaunch under the direction of ''The Nation'' magazine six mo ...

'' (Apr/May 2009)
''Leaving for Kenosha''
''

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 ...

'' (2008)
''How Was it to be Dead?''
''The New Yorker'' (2006)

Profiles

Bibliography

Profile
''

'' *
Overview of Ford's recent career, and critique of short stories
in ''

The Walrus ''The Walrus'' is an independent, nonprofit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an eight-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a nation ...

'' magazine

Interviews

Interview on the 7th Avenue Project radio show
Richard Ford discusses his Frank Bascombe novels, his approach to fiction and his life. * * – Transcript of interview with

Ramona Koval Ramona Koval (born 1954, Melbourne) is an Australian broadcaster, writer and journalist. Her parents were Yiddish-speaking survivors of The Holocaust who arrived in Melbourne from Poland in 1950. Koval is known for her extended and in-depth in ...

, ''

The Book Show ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australia, Australian nationwide public service broadcasting, public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, ...

'',

ABC Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

31 December 2007
Interview for public radio in Maine (2006)
Maine Humanities Council

,

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive and liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, includ ...

Interview on ''Writer's Voice'' (2006)
with radio host, Francesca Rheannon
IdentityTheory.comInterview (2006)
, ''

''
Interview (2006)
Nerve.com
Interview, book reading, and discussion video streams and MP3 download (2006)

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Interview February 2007
Pulitzer Prize-winning author talks with Robert Birnbaum about his latest Frank Bascombe novel, '' The Lay of the Land''
Richard Ford: Shooting for the stars.
Video interview by

Louisiana Channel Louisiana Channel is a non-profit web TV channel launched in 2012 and based at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark. The channel has developed into the world’s largest archive of contemporary art, featuring the artists, with ...

2012.
Interview (2016)

The Ringer (website) ''The Ringer'' is a sports and pop culture website and podcast network, founded by sportswriter Bill Simmons in 2016 and acquired by Spotify in 2020. History ''The Ringer'' was launched in March 2016 by Bill Simmons, who brought along several ...

Archival collections

Guide to The Ultimate Good Luck Galley Proofs.
Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Richard Ford Collection
owned by the University of Mississippi Department of Archives and Special Collections. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Richard 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists Minimalist writers Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners Prix Femina Étranger winners PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners PEN/Malamud Award winners Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Bowdoin College faculty Novelists from Mississippi Novelists from Maine Michigan State University alumni University of Michigan fellows 1944 births Living people Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature American male short story writers Columbia University faculty Writers with dyslexia 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers People from Boothbay, Maine 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state)