Pulitzer Prize-winning Russo has interesting history at SIUC
Presented herewith for your edification, Southern Windows offers up a few little-known facts gleaned from the files of Public Affairs about Richard Russo, a member of the English faculty from 1986 to 1991 and winner of this year's Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Factoid: Russo put himself through college working construction jobs.
Factoid:
What Russo called "the horrors of writing a doctoral dissertation" sparked his desire to write fiction.
Factoid: Longtime friend and University colleague Rodney Jones said in a 1993 Daily Egyptian article that Russo claimed he got into the University of Arizona's creative writing program not because of his writing ability but through the good offices of a friend.
Factoid: Russo writes his first drafts with a pen.
Factoid: It took Russo three years to finish "Mohawk," his first novel, because he was teaching four writing courses each semester at Southern Connecticut State University.
Factoid: Eleven publishers turned down the opportunity to publish "Mohawk." When Random House finally took a chance on the book, it published only a paperback version. (Note to the easily discouraged: Critics liked the book. It sold out its entire first run of 35,000 copies and had to be reprinted -- several times.)
Factoid: Russo came to Carbondale because the University offered him time to write. "They want me to write well, publish well, and they encourage me to travel and give readings," he told reporter H.B. Koplowitz during a 1987 interview that appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Factoid: At the time he was hired, Russo was working on a novel he called "Myrtle Park." It seems to have disappeared without a trace.
Factoid: Russo didn't do all his Carbondale writing at Denny's; his creative muse visited the SIUC Student Center cafeteria as well.
Factoid: Much, if not all, of his second and third books, "The Risk Pool" and "Nobody's Fool" were written at SIUC. Russo took an unpaid leave during the 1989-90 academic year to finish "Nobody's Fool," a book that allowed him to retire from academic life at the ripe old age of 47.
So there you have it, folks. And remember: you read it here first.
(Note: For a more closer look at the man and his work, visit Powell's online bookstore at http://www.powells.com/authors/russo.html. Dave Weich, the company's director of content and marketing, did a lengthy interview with Russo last year after the publication of "Empire Falls," the book that brought home the Pulitzer for our former faculty member. The Web site also includes an up-to-date photo of Russo revealing -- his upper lip!)
- K.C. Jaehnig
May 1, 2002
Factoid: The first book Russo ever owned was a Hardy Boys tale.
