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{{Short description|American author}}
{{About|the American author|other people|Richard Ford (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Richard Ford
| image = Richard Ford at Göteborg Book Fair 2013 02.jpg
| caption = Ford in 2013
| birth_date = {{nowrap|{{Birth date and age|1944|2|16|mf=y}}}}▼
▲| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1944|2|16|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Jackson, Mississippi]], U.S.
| education = [[Michigan State University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[University of California, Irvine]] ([[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]])
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| period = 1976–present
| genre = [[Literary fiction]]
| movement = [[Minimalism#Literary minimalism|Minimalism]]<br>[[Dirty realism]]
}}
'''Richard Ford''' (born February 16, 1944) is an American [[novelist]] and [[short story]] author, and writer of a series of novels featuring the character Frank Bascombe.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/review-richard-ford-be-mine-frank-bascombe/|title=The heroic last stand of an all-American everyman|first=Ian|last=Sansom|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=June 15, 2023|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref>
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Ford's grandfather had worked for a railroad. At the age of 19, before deciding to attend college, Ford began work on the [[Missouri Pacific]] train line as a locomotive engineer's assistant, learning the work while doing the job.<ref>{{cite news| first=Richard| last=Ford| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/business/a-boy-who-played-with-trains.html| title=A Boy Who Played with Trains| newspaper=New York Times| date= 2013-10-19| access-date=2013-10-20| location=New York}}</ref>
Ford received a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] degree from [[Michigan State University]]. Having enrolled to study hotel management, he switched to English. After graduating, he taught junior high school in [[Flint, Michigan]], and enlisted in the [[United States Marine Corps]] but was discharged after contracting [[hepatitis]]. At university he met Kristina Hensley, his future wife
Despite mild [[dyslexia]], Ford developed a serious interest in [[literature]]. He has stated in interviews that his dyslexia may have helped him as a reader
Ford briefly attended law school but quit and participated with the creative writing program at the [[University of California, Irvine]], to pursue a [[Master of Fine Arts]] degree, which he received in 1970. Ford chose this course simply because "they admitted me. I remember getting the application for [[Iowa Writers' Workshop|Iowa]]
==Early career==
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==Mid-career and acclaim==
Ford's 1990 novel ''[[Wildlife (novel)|Wildlife]]'', a story of a [[Montana]] golf professional turned firefighter, met with mixed reviews and middling sales, but by the end of the 1990s Ford was increasingly sought after as an editor and contributor to various projects. Ford edited the 1990 ''[[The Best American Series|The Best American Short Stories]]'', the 1992 ''[[Granta]] Book of the American Short Story'', the Fall 1996 "fiction issue" of ''[[Ploughshares]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/fall-1996|title=Fall 1996 – Ploughshares|website=www.pshares.org}}</ref> and the 1998 ''Granta Book of the American Long Story''. In the latter volume's "Introduction," Ford stipulated that he preferred the designation "long story" instead of the term "novella." For the publishing project [[Library of America]], Ford edited a two-volume edition of the selected works of the Mississippi writer [[Eudora Welty]], which was published during 1998.
During 1995, Ford published the novel ''[[Independence Day (Ford novel)|Independence Day]]'', a sequel to ''The Sportswriter'', featuring the continued story of its protagonist, Frank Bascombe. Reviews were positive, and the novel became the first to win both the [[PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction]]<ref name="Penfaulkner.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.penfaulkner.org/affWinners02.htm |title=PEN/Faulkner Foundation list of winners |publisher=Penfaulkner.org |access-date=2011-08-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421203435/http://www.penfaulkner.org/affWinners02.htm |archive-date=2008-04-21 }}</ref> and the [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]].<ref name="Pulitzer Prize citation">{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/works/1996,Fiction |title=Pulitzer Prize citation |publisher=Pulitzer.org |access-date=2011-08-18}}</ref> During the same year, Ford was chosen as winner of the [[Rea Award for the Short Story]], for outstanding achievement for that genre.<ref name="Rea Award citation">{{cite web |url=http://www.reaaward.org/Ford/Ford.html |title=Rea Award citation |publisher=Reaaward.org |access-date=2011-08-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727204934/http://www.reaaward.org/Ford/Ford.html |archive-date=2011-07-27 }}</ref> He ended the 1990s with a well-received collection of short stories, ''Women With Men'', published during 1997. The ''Paris Review'' termed him a "master" of the short story genre.<ref name="parisreview"/>
==Later life and writings==
[[File:Oliver Mark - Richard Ford, Berlin 2002.jpg|alt=Richard Ford sitting on a couch holding his fist up with a punched-in wall behind him.|left|thumb|Richard Ford photographed by [[Oliver Mark]], Berlin 2002]]
Ford lived for many years in [[New Orleans]] in the [[French Quarter]], on lower [[Bourbon Street]]
He obtained a teaching appointment at [[Bowdoin College]] during 2005 but kept the job for only one semester.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bowdoin.edu/news/archives/1bowdoincampus/001553.shtml |title=News of Bowdoin College appointment |publisher=Bowdoin.edu |date=2004-10-13 |access-date=2011-08-18}}</ref> During 2008 Ford was an adjunct professor of the [[Oscar Wilde Centre]] with the School of English at [[Trinity College
As the new century commenced, he published another story collection, ''A Multitude of Sins'' (2002), followed by the novels ''The Lay Of The Land,'' —the third in his Bascombe series— in 2006
In April 2013, Ford read from a new Frank Bascombe story without revealing to the audience whether it was part of a longer work.<ref>{{cite web| last=Liu |first=Lowen |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/04/30/richard_ford_s_new_frank_bascombe_story_shows_the_damage_done_by_hurricane.html |title=Richard Ford's New Frank Bascombe Story Shows the Damage Done by Hurricane Sandy |work=Slate.com |date=2013-04-30 |access-date=2014-01-10}}</ref> By 2014, it was confirmed that the story was to appear in the book ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', published during November of that year.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7900fd24-5858-11e4-b331-00144feab7de.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7900fd24-5858-11e4-b331-00144feab7de.html |archive-date=2022-12-10 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Frank and me: Richard Ford on his Bascombe novels|work=Financial Times|date=24 October 2014|access-date=2 August 2015}}</ref> The latter work consists of four interconnected novellas (or "long stories"), all narrated by Frank Bascombe.<ref name="lyceumagency.com">[http://www.lyceumagency.com/richard+ford.aspx Richard Ford] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151220055249/http://www.lyceumagency.com/richard+ford.aspx |date=2015-12-20 }}, Lyceum Agency, 2014</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/living-frank-bascombe-interview-richard-ford|title=Living with Frank Bascombe: An Interview with Richard Ford|first=Deborah|last=Treisman|magazine=The New Yorker |date=November 5, 2014|via=www.newyorker.com}}</ref> ''Let Me Be Frank With You'' was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. It did not win the prize
As in the preceding decade, Ford continued to assist with various editing projects. During 2007, he edited the ''New [[Granta]] Book of the American Short Story''
In 2018, ''Wildlife'' was adapted into a [[Wildlife (film)|film of the same name]] by director [[Paul Dano]] and screenwriter [[Zoe Kazan]]. It was released to widespread critical acclaim.{{cn|date=December 2023}}
In 2020, Ford's short story collection, ''Sorry For Your Trouble'', was published. His novel, ''Be Mine'', was published in June 2023 and is the fifth
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==Reception==
Ford began publishing his short stories in the 1980s, which corresponded with an American renaissance in the short story that centered around [[Raymond Carver]] (1938–1988).<ref name=“granta”>{{cite web|url=https://granta.com/an-interview-with-richard-ford/|title=Granta interview with Tim Adams|publisher=Granta.com|date=25 October 2007}}</ref> So there was a tendency early on to associate Ford's stories in ''Rock Springs'' with [[Minimalism#Literary minimalism|
However, many of the characters in the novels about Frank Bascombe (''The Sportswriter'', ''Independence Day'', ''The Lay of the Land'', ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', ''Be Mine''),
Ford's writing demonstrates "a meticulous concern for the nuances of language ... [and] the rhythms of phrases and sentences".
Comparisons have been drawn between Ford's work and the writings of [[John Updike]], [[William Faulkner]], [[Ernest Hemingway]] and [[Walker Percy]]. Ford resists such comparisons, commenting, "You can't write ... on the strength of influence. You can only write a good story or a good novel by yourself."<ref>Guagliardo 2001, p. xi.</ref>
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==Controversies==
Ford once sent [[Alice Hoffman]] a copy of one of her books with bullet holes in it after she angered him by unfavorably reviewing ''The Sportswriter''.<ref>{{cite
In 2004, Ford spat on [[Colson Whitehead]] when encountering him at a party two years after Whitehead published a negative review of ''A Multitude of Sins'' in ''The New York Times''
==Awards and honors==
* 1987 [[Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award]] in Fiction for ''The Sportswriter''; again in 2007 for ''The Lay of the Land''; and in 2013 for ''Canada''<ref>{{cite web|title=MIAL Winners |url=http://www.ms-arts-letters.org/winners.shtml |accessdate=24 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210211/http://www.ms-arts-letters.org/winners.shtml |archivedate=3 March 2016 }}</ref>
* 1995 [[Rea Award for the Short Story]], for outstanding achievement in that genre<ref name="Rea Award citation"/>
* 1996 [[PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction|PEN/Faulkner Award]], for ''[[Independence Day (Ford novel)|Independence Day]]''<ref name="Penfaulkner.org"/>
* 1996 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]], for ''Independence Day''<ref name="Pulitzer Prize citation"/>
* 2001 [[PEN/Malamud Award]], for excellence in short fiction<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pshares.org/authors/richard-ford|title=Richard Ford | Ploughshares|website=www.pshares.org}}</ref>
* 2005 [[St. Louis Literary Award]] from the [[Saint Louis University]] Library Associates<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html|title=Saint Louis Literary Award – Saint Louis University|website=www.slu.edu|access-date=2016-07-25|archive-date=2016-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823003924/http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award/ford |title=Richard Ford to Receive 2005 Saint Louis Literary Award |author=Saint Louis University Library Associates |access-date=July 25, 2016}}</ref>
* 2008 [[Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Kenyon Review for Literary Achievement|url=http://www.kenyonreview.org/programs/kenyon-review-award-for-literary-achievement/|website=KenyonReview.org}}</ref>
* 2013 [[Prix Femina étranger]], for ''[[Canada (novel)|Canada]]''{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}
* 2013 [[Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction|Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction]], for ''Canada''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23573346/ford-egan-win-literary-medals |title=Ford, Egan Win Literary Medals |work=[[San Jose Mercury News]] |last=Italie |first=Hillel |date=June 30, 2013 |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034850/http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23573346/ford-egan-win-literary-medals |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* 2015 [[Fitzgerald Award for Achievement in American Literature]] part of the [http://fscottfestival.org/ F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival]{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}
* 2015
* 2016 [[Princess of Asturias Awards|Princess of Asturias Award]] in Literature<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.euronews.com/2016/06/15/richard-ford-wins-princess-of-asturias-award-for-literature|title=Richard Ford wins Princess of Asturias Award for Literature|date=15 June 2016|website=euronews}}</ref>
* 2018 [[Park Kyong-ni Prize]]
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* 2019 [[Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2019/05/16/maine-author-richard-ford-wins-library-of-congress-prize-for-american-fiction |title=Maine author Richard Ford wins lifetime achievement award from Library of Congress |work=[[Portland Press Herald]] |first=Ray |last=Routhier |date=May 16, 2019 |access-date=May 28, 2019}}</ref>
==Selected
===Novels===
* ''A Piece of My Heart'' (1976)
* ''The Ultimate Good Luck'' (1981)
* ''[[The Sportswriter]]''
* ''[[Wildlife (novel)|Wildlife]]'' (1990)
* ''[[Independence Day (Ford novel)|Independence Day]]'' (1995)
* ''[[The Lay of the Land]]'' (2006)
* ''[[Canada (novel)|Canada]]'' (2012)
* ''[[Let Me Be Frank With You]]'' (2014)<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2014/11/06/360189334/frankly-bascombes-return-has-some-problems Michael Schaub. "Frankly, Bascombe's Return Has Some Problems"], 2014-11-06. Retrieved 2015-01-06.</ref>▼
* ''[[Be Mine (novel)|Be Mine]]'' (2023)<ref name="columbia" />
===Story collections===
* ''[[Rock Springs (short story collection)|Rock Springs]]'' (1987)
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* ''A Multitude of Sins'' (2002)
* ''Vintage Ford'' (2004)
▲* ''[[Let Me Be Frank With You]]'' (2014)<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2014/11/06/360189334/frankly-bascombes-return-has-some-problems Michael Schaub. "Frankly, Bascombe's Return Has Some Problems"], 2014-11-06. Retrieved 2015-01-06.</ref>
* ''Sorry for Your Trouble'' (2020)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pressherald.com/2019/05/16/maine-author-richard-ford-wins-library-of-congress-prize-for-american-fiction/|title=Maine author Richard Ford wins lifetime achievement award from Library of Congress|first=Ray |last=Routhier|date=May 16, 2019|access-date=Sep 26, 2019}}</ref><ref name="columbia"/>
===Memoir===
* ''Between Them: Remembering My Parents'' (2017)
===Screenplays===
* ''[[Bright Angel]]'' (1990)
===As contributor or editor===
* ''The [[Granta]] Book of the American Short Story'' (1992)
* ''The Granta Book of the American Long Story'' (1999)
* ''The Essential Tales of
* Foreword to [[Alec Soth]], ''NIAGARA'' (Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2006)
* ''The New Granta Book of the American Short Story'' (2007)
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==References==
{{reflist
===Works cited===
*
*
==Further reading==
* Armengol, Joseph M.
*
* McGuire, Ian. ''Richard Ford and the Ends of Realism''. Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 2015. {{ISBN|978-1-60938-343-5}}
* Walker, Elinor. ''Richard Ford''. New York: Twayne Publishers, 2000. {{ISBN|0805716793}}
==External links==
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{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://bookforum.com/inprint/016_01/3512 "Nobody's Everyman"], ''[[Bookforum]]'' (Apr/May 2009)
*[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/03/03/leaving-for-kenosha ''Leaving for Kenosha''], ''[[The New Yorker]]'' (2008)
*[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/08/28/how-was-it-to-be-dead ''How Was it to be Dead?''], ''The New Yorker'' (2006)
*[http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/ford_richard/ Bibliography], [[University of Mississippi]]
*[https://www.pshares.org/authors/richard-ford Profile], ''[[Ploughshares]]''
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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080821205214/http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/02/27/richard-ford-in-canada/ Overview of Ford's recent career, and critique of short stories] in ''[[The Walrus]]'' magazine
*[http://7thavenueproject.com/post/103778917170/richard-ford-on-frank-bascombe/ Interview on the 7th Avenue Project radio show] Richard Ford discusses his Frank Bascombe novels, his approach to fiction and his life.
*{{cite journal| url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1365/the-art-of-fiction-no-147-richard-ford| title=Richard Ford, The Art of Fiction No. 147| journal=Paris Review| volume=Fall 1996| issue=140| date=Fall 1996| first=Bonnie | last=Lyons }}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2008/2123439.htm |title=Armistead Maupin: Brisbane Writers' Festival – RN Book Show – 23 January 2008 |publisher=Abc.net.au |date=2008-01-23 |access-date=2011-08-19}} – Transcript of interview with [[Ramona Koval]], ''[[The Book Show]]'', [[ABC Radio National]] 31 December 2007
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110725032150/http://mainehumanities.org/podcast/archives/446 Interview for public radio in Maine (2006)], [[Maine Humanities Council]]
*[http://www.salon.com/weekly/interview960708.html Interview (1996)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000522061756/http://www.salon.com/weekly/interview960708.html |date=2000-05-22 }}, [[Salon.com]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080203180041/http://www.writersvoice.net/2007/01/weeks-podcast-richard/ Interview on ''Writer's Voice'' (2006)] with radio host, Francesca Rheannon
*[http://www.identitytheory.com/people/birnbaum37.html Interview (2002)], [http://www.identitytheory.com IdentityTheory.com]
*[http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/articles/060828on_onlineonly02 Interview (2006)] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130130003330/www.newyorker.com/online/content/articles/060828on_onlineonly02 |date=2013-01-30 }}, ''[[The New Yorker]]''
*[http://www.nerve.com/screeningroom/books/interview_richardford/ Interview (2006)], [[Nerve (website)|Nerve.com]]
*[http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/people/fellows/ford.html Interview, book reading, and discussion video streams and MP3 download (2006)], [[University of Pennsylvania]]
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*[https://theringer.com/richard-ford-is-not-the-sportswriter-390c7b01dc35/ Interview (2016)], [[The Ringer (website)]]
*[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0x0nb0fd Guide to The Ultimate Good Luck Galley Proofs.] Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
*[http://purl.oclc.org/umarchives/MUM00188/ Richard Ford Collection] owned by the University of Mississippi Department of Archives and Special Collections.
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