Frederick Busch


Frederick Busch was an American writer who authored nearly thirty books, including volumes of short stories and novels.

Early life and education

Frederick Busch was born in Brooklyn, New York City on August 1, 1941. He graduated from Muhlenberg College in 1962, and earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1967. Busch and his wife lived briefly in Greenwich Village, where they scraped by until Busch got a job teaching at Colgate University in 1966.

Career

Academia

Busch was professor of literature at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, from 1966 to 2003. He also served as acting director of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1978–79.

Writing

Busch had more than 30 books published in his lifetime. He won numerous awards, including the Harry and Ethel Daroff Award in 1985 for Invisible Mending; the American Academy of Arts and Letters Fiction Award in 1986; and the PEN/Malamud Award in 1991.

Personal life

Busch met his future wife, Judith Burroughs, in Allentown, Pennsylvania while attending Muhlenberg College in 1962. They married in 1963.
Busch and his wife had two sons, Benjamin and Nicholas. Benjamin Busch is an acclaimed actor. In 1995, Nicholas Busch graduated from Muhlenberg College.

Death

On February 23, 2006, Busch died of a heart attack in Manhattan, New York City, aged 64.

Honours and awards

Novels

I Wanted A Year Without Fall - a novel, London: Calder & Boyars, 1971Manual Labor - a novel, New York: New Directions, 1974Domestic Particulars: a Family Chronicle, New Directions, 1976Mutual Friend, New York: Harper & Row, 1978Rounds, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1980Take This Man, Farrar, Straus and Giroux Invisible Mending: a novel, David R. Godine, 1984Sometimes I Live in the Country, David R. Godine 1986War Babies, New Directions, 1989Harry and Catherine, Knopf, 1990Closing Arguments, Ticknor & Fields, 1991Long Way From Home, Ticknor & Fields, 1993Girls: A Novel, Harmony Books, 1997The Night Inspector, Harmony Books A Memory of War, W. W. Norton & Co North: A Novel, W. W. Norton & Co

Short story collections

  • Breathing Trouble and Other Stories, London: Calder and Boyars Hardwater Country - stories, New York: Knopf Too Late American Boyhood Blues: ten stories, David R. Godine Absent Friends, NY: Knopf Children in the Woods: New and Selected Stories, Ticknor & Fields Don't Tell Anyone: Short Stories and a Novella, W. W. Norton & Co Rescue Missions, W. W. Norton & Co The Stories of Frederick Busch, W. W. Norton & Co

Non-fiction

  • Hawkes: A Guide to his Fictions, Syracuse University Press A Dangerous Profession: A Book about the Writing Life, St. Martin's Press Letters to a Fiction Writer, edited by Frederick Busch; W. W. Norton & Co