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Biography
American

Ron Carlson

1947

Ron Carlson is an American short story writer and novelist whose fiction — set in the American West, particularly Utah and Arizona — combines deadpan humor with emotional precision and a gift for the domestic and the strange. His story collections, including The News of the World (1987) and At the Jim Bridger (2002), are models of the American short story form. He is also known for Ron Carlson Writes a Story (2007), one of the finest books about the craft of writing fiction.

Past sales0
PeriodContemporary
NationalityAmerican
1. Biography

A short life of the author

Ron Carlson (b. 1947) was born on 25 October 1947 in Logan, Utah. He studied at the University of Utah. He has taught at Arizona State University and UC Irvine.

Life and Career

The News of the World (1987) — stories that range from a man who builds a rocket in his garage to a couple whose marriage is tested by a visit from an old friend — established his voice: laconic, funny, emotionally acute, and rooted in the physical world of the American West.

Plan B for the Middle Class (1992), The Hotel Eden (1997), and At the Jim Bridger (2002) continued his story output. Five Skies (2007) was his most acclaimed novel: about three men building a ramp in a remote Idaho canyon.

Ron Carlson Writes a Story (2007) — in which he writes a new short story while explaining his process in real time — is one of the most useful and honest books about fiction writing ever published.

Key Works

  • At the Jim Bridger (2002)
  • Five Skies (2007)
  • Ron Carlson Writes a Story (2007)

Collecting Carlson

The News of the World (1987, W.W. Norton) brings $15–$30.