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Richard Bruce Snodgrass

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Richard Bruce Snodgrass
Born (1940-04-22) April 22, 1940 (age 84)
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Writer and photographer
Spouses
Carol Lynn Barnett Snodgrass
​
​
(m. 1967⁠–⁠1981)​
Mary Martha Beard Snodgrass
​
​
(m. 1983)​
Websitehttps://richardsnodgrass.com

Richard Bruce Snodgrass (born April 22, 1940) is an American writer and photographer known for his evocations of life in small-town and rural western Pennsylvania. His published work includes fiction, nonfiction, and photography.

Early life and education

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Richard Bruce Snodgrass was born on April 22, 1940, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, to Bruce DeWitt Snodgrass and Helen (née Murchie) Snodgrass. His parents were both United Presbyterians of Scottish descent, and both graduated from Tarkio College, in northwestern Missouri. His father was a founding partner of a prominent accounting firm in Pittsburgh, and his mother was trained as a teacher.[citation needed] Snodgrass’s older brother, W. D. Snodgrass was a poet.

In addition to his brother, Snodgrass had two older siblings—sisters Shirley (1937–2016)[1] and Barbara (1928–1955).[1] Barbara’s death, at the age of twenty-seven, from a coronary thrombosis aggravated by a chronic asthma-like condition is the subject of a series of poems by W. D. Snodgrass.[2] The family lived in the College Hill neighborhood of Beaver Falls. The orange-brick house with distinctive rounded corners and curved windows is the subject of a collection of photographs Snodgrass took in the 1970s.[3]

In 1959, Snodgrass enrolled in Saint Vincent College, then transferred to the University of Detroit and audited classes at Wayne State University. He then enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in English literature. He graduated with a BA in 1963.[citation needed]

Snodgrass subsequently studied with and assisted the renowned photographer Oliver Gagliani at his workshops in Virginia City, Nevada.[citation needed] He received his MFA in photography from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1973.

Career

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Writing

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Snodgrass’s first novel, There’s Something in the Back Yard, was published by Viking in 1989.[4] The book earned critical praise from the Washington Post Book World, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications.[5] His short fiction has been published in the New England Review/Bread Loaf Quarterly, California Quarterly, Pittsburgh Quarterly, and elsewhere.[6] His essay on Ross Macdonald appeared in South Dakota Review.[7] As a fiction writer, he was artist in residence at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, in Taos, New Mexico. He also received a fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.[8]

In 2011, Carnegie Mellon University Press published An Uncommon Field: The Flight 93 Temporary Memorial, a collection of photographs and meditations about the now-dismantled structure on the site that later became a national park in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.[9] Skyhorse Publishing brought out Kitchen Things: An Album of Vintage Utensils and Farm-Kitchen Recipes in 2013.[10] The New York Times called it a book “to admire,”[11] and the Associated Press named it one of the year’s “best books to get you thinking about food.”[12] The book grew out of a series of articles Snodgrass wrote for Pittsburgh’s Table magazine, where he was a regular contributor.[13]


Snodgrass’s series of novels and short stories, the Books of Furnass, set in a fictional mill town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were published between 2018 and 2022 by Calling Crow Press. The series includes, in order of suggested reading: All That Will Remain; Across the River; Holding On (short stories); A Book of Days; The Pattern Maker; Furrow and Slice: The Farmland Stories (short stories and photographs); The Building (Furnass Towers Trilogy, Bk 1); Some Rise (Furnass Towers Trilogy, Bk 2); All Fall Down (Furnass Towers Trilogy, Bk 3); Redding Up (short stories and photographs).

In 2022, Carnegie Mellon University Press published Snodgrass’ memoir, The House with Round Windows, about his brother, the poet W.D. Snodgrass, and the brothers’ relationship with their family and each other.

Photography

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Snodgrass was artist in residence at the Syracuse University’s Light Work program in 1977. His photographs are in the Oakland Museum of California, where he served as special curator and printer for a Dorothea Lange exhibition.[14] In 2006, an exhibition called AfterImage: Mill Life Remembered, consisting of eighty of his photographs and twenty accompanying text panels, was exhibited at the Heinz History Center, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, in Pittsburgh.[15] His photography has also appeared in LensWork magazine.[16][17]

Bibliography

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Fiction
Title Publisher Reference
There’s Something in the Back Yard (1989) Viking [18]
The Books of Furnass
Title Publisher Reference
All That Will Remain (2021) Calling Crow Press [19]
Across the River (2019) Calling Crow Press [20]
Holding On (2019) Calling Crow Press [21]
A Book of Days (2020) Calling Crow Press [22]
The Pattern Maker (2020) Calling Crow Press [23]
Furrow and Slice (2021) Calling Crow Press [24]
The Building Furnass Towers Trilogy, Bk 1 (2018) Calling Crow Press [25]
Some Rise Furnass Towers Trilogy, Bk 2 (2018) Calling Crow Press [26]
All Fall Down Furnass Towers Trilogy, Bk 3 (2018) Calling Crow Press [27]
Redding Up (2022) Calling Crow Press [28]
Books of Photographs and Text
Title Publisher Reference
An Uncommon Field (2011) Carnegie Mellon University Press [9]
Kitchen Things (2013) Skyhorse Publishing [10]
Memoir
Title Publisher Reference
The House with Round Windows (2022) Carnegie Mellon University Press [29]
Other Works
Title Publisher Reference
Back to Lovelock - Vol. 22 (Summer 1983), 59 California Quarterly [30]
Larry-Berry (1983) New England Review/Bread Loaf Quarterly [31]
Down These Streets, I Mean, a Man Must Go - Vol. 24, no. 1 (Spring 1986), 7 South Dakota Review [7]
Down in the Greenwood O (1988) New England Review/Bread Loaf Quarterly [32]
AfterImage: Mill Life Remembered (2006) LensWork [16]
Brain Food (2006-2013) Table
From The House with Round Windows (2017) Honeysuckle [33]
Tunnels of Love (2017) Pittsburgh Quarterly [34]

References

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  1. ^ a b Home, Hill & Kunselman Funeral. "Shirley (Snodgrass) Schiemer Obituary - Hill & Kunselman Funeral Home, Inc". Hillandkunselman.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  2. ^ Snodgrass, W. D. "My sister's death". Webofstories.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  3. ^ "The House with Round Windows". Richardsnodgrass.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  4. ^ "THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE BACKYARD by Richard Snodgrass - Kirkus Reviews". Kirkusreviews.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Other Work - Richard Snodgrass". Archived from the original on 2018-03-20.
  6. ^ "Richard Snodgrass - Author and Photographer". Richard Snodgrass. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  7. ^ a b "South Dakota Review". South Dakota Review. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  8. ^ Snodgrass, Richard (23 May 2019). An Uncommon Field: The Flight 93 Temporary Memorial. Carnegie Mellon University Press. ISBN 9780887485527. Retrieved 23 May 2019 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ a b University, Carnegie Mellon. "Press Release: Carnegie Mellon University Press Publishes "An Uncommon Field," First Book Celebrating Flight 93 Temporary Memorial - News - Carnegie Mellon University". Cmu.edu. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  10. ^ a b "Search Results". Skyhorsepublishing.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  11. ^ Fabricant, Florence (26 November 2013). "A School Where Cooks Learn to Be Farmers, a Project for White Corn and More". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  12. ^ "Reading for eating". Toledo Blade. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Richard Snodgrass: Fusing Photography & Writing". Akdowning.net. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  14. ^ Heyman, Therese Thau; Lange, Dorothea; Museum, Oakland (23 May 1978). Celebrating a collection: the work of Dorothea Lange. Oakland Museum. ISBN 9780614144116. Retrieved 23 May 2019 – via Google Books.
  15. ^ "Slideshow: Photos capture mill town era". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  16. ^ a b "Lenswork 62 Preview" (PDF). Lenswork.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  17. ^ "LensWork Back Issues". Lenswork.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  18. ^ "There's Something in the Back Yard".
  19. ^ "All That Will Remain". Retrieved 05 May 2023
  20. ^ "Across the River". Retrieved 23 May 2019
  21. ^ "Holding On". Retrieved 05 May 2023
  22. ^ "A Book of Days". Retrieved 05 May 2023
  23. ^ "The Pattern Maker". Retrieved 05 May 2023
  24. ^ "Furrow and Slice". Retrieved 05 May 2023
  25. ^ "The Building". Retrieved 23 May 2019
  26. ^ "Some Rise". Retrieved 23 May 2019
  27. ^ "All Fall Down". Retrieved 23 May 2019
  28. ^ "Redding Up". Retrieved 05 May 2023
  29. ^ "The House with Round Windows".
  30. ^ "Home". Californiastatepoetrysociety.org. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  31. ^ Snodgrass, Richard (23 May 1983). "Larry-Berry". New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly. 5 (3): 394–401. JSTOR 40374620.
  32. ^ Snodgrass, Richard (23 May 1988). "Down in the Greenwood O". New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly. 10 (3): 283–292. JSTOR 40241939.
  33. ^ "Honeysuckle HOME Issue #4". Issuu. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  34. ^ Snodgrass, Richard. "Tunnels of Love - Pittsburgh Quarterly Magazine". Pittsburghquarterly.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
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