Ron Carlson (born 1947) is an American novelist, short story writer and professor.

Life

Carlson was born in

Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...

, and grew up in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

. He received a master's degree in English from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of D ...

. He then taught at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, where he began his first novel. He became a professor of English at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in t ...

in 1985, teaching creative writing to undergraduates and graduates, and ultimately becoming director of its Creative Writing program. Carlson then moved to the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

. Carlson was the director of UCI's Creative Writing program until his resignation in 2018. His short stories originally 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 Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', and '' GQ''. In addition to his fiction, Carlson has also written for ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read ...

'' and the ''

Los Angeles Times Book Review The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. He wrote of his first "good" story: "I did not understand my story; many times you don’t. It’s not your job to understand or evaluate or edit your work when you first emerge from it. Your duty is to be in love with it, and that defies explanation." (''Ron Carlson Writes A Story'') The short story "Keith", from ''The Hotel Eden'', was adapted into a film by Todd Kessler (2008). The independent movie starred, among others,

Jesse McCartney Jesse McCartney (born April 9, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama ''All My Children'' as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo mus ...

and Elisabeth Harnois. In August 2018, Carlson was named as one of a number of former teachers at the Hotchkiss School against whom credible evidence of having committed sexual assault on a minor student was found. The report to the board of Hotchkiss was prepared by the respected law firm of Locke Lord who conducted a wide-ranging investigation.

Awards

He has received a number of honors and awards, including 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 in Fiction, a

National Society of Arts and Letters The National Society of Arts and Letters (known by its abbreviation NSAL) is an American non-profit group founded in 1944 as a women's organization to assist promising young artists through arts competitions, scholarships and other career oppor ...

Award, and the 1993 Ploughshares Cohen Prize.

Bibliography

Poetry

Novels

*''Betrayed by F. Scott Fitzgerald'' (1977) *''Truants'' (1981) * * *''Return to Oakpine''. Viking. 2013. .

YA Novel

*''The Speed of Light'', HarperTempest, 2003,

Short stories

*''News of the World'' (1987) *''Plan B for the Middle Class'' (1992; a ''

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 ...

'' Best Book that year) * (an NYT Notable Book) * (a ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' 2002 best book) *

Non-fiction

*''Ron Carlson Writes a Story'' (2007), subtitled: "From the first glimmer of an idea to the final sentence."

Anthologies

* Best American Short Stories * Sudden Fiction * Best of the West Epoch * In Our Lovely Deseret: Mormon Fictions *

The North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived a ...

* The

O'Henry Prize The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry. The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty best ...

Series * The

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors ar ...

Anthology * ''Norton Anthology of Short Fiction''.

References

External links

*
"Ron Carlson Abridged", ''Elephant Rock Productions''
*http://www.teenreads.com/authors/talk-carlson-ron.asp *http://www.pshares.org/authors/author-detail.cfm?authorID=1860
The N
a short story, '' Narrative Magazine'' (Spring 2007). {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlson, Ron 20th-century American novelists Living people 1947 births Writers from Logan, Utah University of California, Irvine faculty Arizona State University faculty Writers from Salt Lake City University of Utah alumni 21st-century American novelists American male novelists 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 Novelists from Arizona Novelists from Utah