A short life of the author
Kent Haruf (1943–2014) was born on 24 February 1943 in Pueblo, Colorado. He studied at Nebraska Wesleyan University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He taught at universities in Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Illinois, and spent the last decades of his life in Salida, Colorado — small-town Colorado was his entire subject.
Life and Career
The Tie That Binds (1984) — about a brother and sister bound together on a Colorado farm by filial duty — was his debut. Where You Once Belonged (1990) followed.
Plainsong (1999) — about Victoria Roubideaux, a pregnant teenager abandoned by her mother and taken in by the McPheron brothers, two elderly bachelor cattle ranchers — was a National Book Award finalist and established Haruf’s reputation. Its prose is stripped to the bone: short sentences, no quotation marks, an almost biblical simplicity. The novel’s power lies in the McPheron brothers’ decency — their quiet, uncertain, wholly adequate response to a stranger’s need.
Eventide (2004) continued the stories of Holt’s residents. Benediction (2013) — about an elderly man dying and the town’s response — was his most emotionally devastating novel.
Our Souls at Night (2015, published posthumously) — about two elderly widowers in Holt who decide to spend their nights together for companionship — was adapted as a film (2017) starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. It was his final novel.
Haruf died on 30 November 2014 in Salida, Colorado.
Major Works and Themes
Haruf wrote about decency — the quiet, undemonstrative goodness of people who do the right thing without fanfare. His Holt is one of the great fictional towns in American literature.
Key Works
- Plainsong (1999)
- Eventide (2004)
- Benediction (2013)
- Our Souls at Night (2015)
Collecting Haruf
The Tie That Binds (1984, Holt, Rinehart and Winston) — his debut — brings $50–$200.
Plainsong (1999, Knopf) brings $30–$100. Haruf signed at Colorado events.