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VJ Books Presents Author Richard Russo!

Author Richard RussoRichard Russo was born on July 15, 1949 in Johnstown, New York and raised in nearby Gloversville. He earned a Bachelor's degree, a Master of Fine Arts degree, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Arizona, which he attended from 1967 through 1979. He was teaching in the English department at Southern Illinois University Carbondale when his first novel, Mohawk, was published.

His novel Empire Falls, published in 2001, won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He has written five other novels: Mohawk, The Risk Pool, Nobody's Fool, Straight Man, and Bridge of Sighs, as well as a short story collection, The Whore's Child. Russo co-wrote the 1998 film Twilight with director Robert Benton, who also adapted and directed Russo's Nobody's Fool into a 1994 film of the same name, starring Paul Newman.

Russo wrote the teleplay for the HBO adaptation of Empire Falls, the screenplay for the 2005 film Ice Harvest and the screenplay for the 2005 Niall Johnson film Keeping Mum, which starred Rowan Atkinson. Russo's novel, Bridge of Sighs, was released on 25 September 2007 and Random House released his most recent novel, That Old Cape Magic, on 4 August 2009.

Russo is now retired from the faculty of Colby College and lives in Camden, Maine.

Richard Russo Book List and Awards
His website: www.randomhouse.com/knopf/authors/russo
Similar authors: Russell Banks, Michael Chabon, Richard Ford, Jonathan Franzen
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Everybody's Fool
Signed First Edition

Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo

That Old Cape Magic
Signed First Edition

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

Empire Falls
Signed First Edition

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Richard Russo Bibliography


  • Mohawk - 1986
  • The Risk Pool - 1988
  • Nobody's Fool - 1993
  • Straight Man - 1997
  • Empire Falls - 2001
  • The Whore's Child and Other Stories - 2002
  • Bridge of Sighs - 2007
  • That Old Cape Magic - 2009
  • Interventions, with illustrator Kate Russo - 2012
  • Elsewhere: A Memoir - 2012
  • Interventions: A Novella & Three Stories
  • Everybody's Fool - May 2016

Richard Russo Awards

  • Pulitzer Prize for Fiction - 2002

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