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Rick Bass

American writer

Rick B* (born March 7, 1958) is an American writer and an environmental activist. He has a Bachelor of Science in Geology with a focus in Wildlife from Utah State University. Right after he graduated, he interned for one year as a Wildlife Biologist at the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company in Arkansas. He then went onto working as an oil and gas geologist and consultant before becoming a writer and teacher. He has worked across the United States at various universities such as, University Texas at Austin, Beloit College, University of Montana, Pacific University, and most recently Iowa State University. He has done many workshops and lectures on writing and wildlife throughout his career as a writer and teacher. He has written many books throughout his years and there is a collection of all his writings, such as short stories, and other personal writings such as essays and memoirs. There are collections of his works at Texas Tech University and University of Texas Austin.

Contents

  • 1 Life
  • 2 Awards
  • 3 Works
    • 3.1 Fiction
    • 3.2 Nonfiction
    • 3.3 Anthologies
    • 3.4 About Rick B*, non-fiction by others
  • 4 References
  • 5 External links
    • 5.1 Archival Materials
    • 5.2 Essays
    • 5.3 Other Pages

Life

B* was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He studied petroleum geology at Utah State University. He grew up in Houston, and started writing short stories on his lunch breaks while working as a petroleum geologist in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1987, he married the artist Elizabeth Hughes B* and moved to Yaak Valley, where he worked to protect his adopted home from roads and logging. Rick serves on the board of the Yaak Valley Forest Council. He continues to give readings, write, and teach around the country and world.

His papers are held in two collections: the Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community, and the Natural World, part of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University, and Texas State University–San Marcos's Wittliff Collections.

Awards

B* won The Story Prize for books published in 2016 for his collection of new and selected stories, For a Little While. He won the 1995 James Jones Literary Society First Novel Fellowship for his novel in progress, Where the Sea Used to Be. He was a finalist for the Story Prize in 2006 for his short story collection The Lives of Rocks. He was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award (autobiography) for Why I Came West (2009). He was also awarded the General Electric Younger Writers Award, a PEN/Nelson Algren Award Special Citation for fiction, and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.

Works

Fiction

  • The Watch: Stories. W. W. Norton & Company. 1994. ISBN:978-0-393-31135-8. (Originally published 1989)
  • Platte River. University of Nebraska Press. 1994. ISBN:978-0-8032-5973-7.
  • In the Loyal Mountains. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1995. ISBN:0-395-71687-X.
  • The Sky, The Stars, The Wilderness. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1997. ISBN:0-395-71758-2. Rick B*.
  • Fiber. University of Georgia Press. 1998. ISBN:978-0-8203-2063-2. fiber rick b*.
  • Where the Sea Used to Be. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1999. ISBN:978-0-395-95781-3. (Originally published 1998)
  • The Hermit's Story. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2003. ISBN:978-0-618-38044-2. (Originally published 2002)
  • The Diezmo. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2005. ISBN:0-395-92617-3. Rick B*.
  • The Lives of Rocks: Stories. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2006. ISBN:978-0-618-59674-4. Rick B*.
  • Nashville Chrome: A Novel. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2010. ISBN:978-0-547-31726-7.
  • All the Land to Hold Us. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2013. ISBN:978-0-547-68712-4. Rick B* All the Land to Hold Us.

For a Little While: New and Selected Stories. Little Brown. 2016. ISBN:978-0-316-38115-4

Nonfiction

  • The Deer Pasture. W. W. Norton & Company. 1996. ISBN:978-0-393-31435-9. (Originally published 1985)
  • Wild to the Heart. W. W. Norton & Company. 1997. ISBN:978-0-393-31487-8. (Originally published 1987)
  • Oil Notes. Flamingo. 1990. ISBN:978-0-87074-383-2.
  • Winter: Notes from Montana. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1991. ISBN:978-0-395-61150-0. Rick B*.
  • The Ninemile Wolves. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2003. ISBN:978-0-618-26302-8. (Originally published 1992)
  • The Lost Grizzlies. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1997. ISBN:978-0-395-85700-7. (Originally published 1995)
  • The Book of Yaak. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1997. ISBN:978-0-395-87746-3. (Originally published 1996)
  • The New Wolves: The Return of the Mexican Wolf to the American Southwest. Globe Pequot. 2007. ISBN:978-1-59921-228-9. (Originally published 1998)
  • Brown Dog of the Yaak: Essays on Art and Activism. Milkweed Editions. 1999. ISBN:978-1-57131-224-2.
  • Colter: The True Story of the Best Dog I Ever Had. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2000. ISBN:978-0-395-92618-5. (Originally published 2000)
  • Why I Came West: A Memoir. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2008. ISBN:978-0-618-59675-1.
  • The Wild Marsh: Four Seasons at Home in Montana. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2009. ISBN:978-0-547-05516-9.
  • Caribou Rising: Defending the Porcupine Caribou Herd, Gwitch-'in Culture and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Sierra Club Books. 2004. ISBN:1-57805-114-2.
  • The Black Rhinos of Namibia: Searching for Survivors in the African Desert. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2012. ISBN:978-0-54705-521-3.

Anthologies

  • Pushcart Prize
  • O. Henry Award.
  • Best American Short Stories 1991
  • Best American Short Stories 1996
  • Best American Short Stories 1999
  • Best American Short Stories 2001.
  • The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013

About Rick B*, non-fiction by others

  • The Literary Art and Activism of Rick B*, edited by O. Alan Weltzein, (2001). ISBN:978-0-87480-697-7

References

    External links

    Archival Materials

    • Author papers at Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University
    • Rick B* papers, MSS 8192 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University

    Essays

    • Danger Nonfiction in Narrative Magazine
    • "Rick B*", On Point, July 2, 2009
    • "Rick B*", Charlie Rose, August 10, 1998
    • "Rick B*", "Love of a Place", Outside Bozeman magazine
    • "Fiber", Mississippi Review, September 1997
    • "Paradise Lost", Orion Magazine, January/February 2005

    Other Pages

    • Lopate Show with The Story Prize finalists: Rick B*, Mary Gordon, and George Saunders (2/27/07)

    Rick Bass Is A Member Of

    66 Year Olds

    Rick

    Fort Worth, Texas