Richard Bruce Snodgrass

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.

Richard Bruce Snodgrass
Born (1940-04-22) April 22, 1940
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)​

    Early life and education

    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. 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.

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

    Career

    Writing

    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 set in the fictional town of Furnass, Pennsylvania, begins with The Building, published in April of 2018 by Calling Crow Press. Other novels in the series are Some Rise, All Fall Down, Across the River, Holding On (short stories), Shadow of the Valley, The Pattern Maker, and House of Lyles, all set for release by Calling Crow Press between 2018 and 2020.

    Photography

    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
    Year Title Publisher Reference
    1983 “Back to Lovelock” - Vol. 22 (Summer 1983), 59 California Quarterly [18]
    1983 “Larry-Berry” New England Review/Bread Loaf Quarterly [19]
    1986 “Down These Streets, I Mean, a Man Must Go” - Vol. 24, no. 1 (Spring 1986), 7 South Dakota Review [7]
    1988 “Down in the Greenwood O” New England Review/Bread Loaf Quarterly [20]
    1989 There’s Something in the Back Yard Viking [21]
    2006 “AfterImage: Mill Life Remembered” LensWork [16]
    2006–2013 “Brain Food” Table
    2011 An Uncommon Field Carnegie Mellon University Press [9]
    2013 Kitchen Things Skyhorse Publishing [10]
    2017 From The House with Round Windows Honeysuckle [22]
    2017 “Tunnels of Love” Pittsburgh Quarterly [23]
    2018 The Building Calling Crow Press [24]
    2018 Some Rise Calling Crow Press [25]
    2018 All Fall Down Calling Crow Press [26]

    References
    1. 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. "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. 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. "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. "Lenswork 62 Preview" (PDF). Lenswork.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
    17. "LensWork Back Issues". Lenswork.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
    18. "Home". Californiastatepoetrysociety.org. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
    19. Snodgrass, Richard (23 May 1983). "Larry-Berry". New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly. 5 (3): 394–401. JSTOR 40374620.
    20. Snodgrass, Richard (23 May 1988). "Down in the Greenwood O". New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly. 10 (3): 283–292. JSTOR 40241939.
    22. "Honeysuckle HOME Issue #4". Issuu. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
    23. Snodgrass, Richard. "Tunnels of Love - Pittsburgh Quarterly Magazine". Pittsburghquarterly.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
    24. "The Building". BookShout.com. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
    25. Noble, Barnes &. "Some Rise (The Furnass Towers Trilogy)-Paperback". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
    26. Noble, Barnes &. "All Fall Down (The Furnass Towers Trilogy, #3)-Paperback". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
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