William Kent Krueger


William Kent Krueger is an American novelist and crime writer, best known for his series of novels featuring Cork O'Connor, which are set mainly in Minnesota. In 2005 and 2006, he won back-to-back Anthony Awards for best novel. In 2014, his stand-alone book Ordinary Grace won the Edgar Award for Best Novel of 2013. In 2019, This Tender Land was on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly six months.

Biographical details

Krueger has said he wanted to be a writer since the third grade, when his story "The Walking Dictionary" was praised by his teacher and parents.
He attended Stanford University, but his academic path was cut short when he came into conflict with the university's administration during student protests in 1970. Throughout his early life, he supported himself by logging timber, digging ditches, working in construction, and publishing as a freelance journalist; he never stopped writing.
He wrote short stories and sketches for many years, but did not finish the manuscript of his first novel, Iron Lake, until he was 40. It won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, the Barry Award for Best First Novel, the Minnesota Book Award, and the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award.
Krueger is married and has two children. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Writing influences

Krueger has said his favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird. He grew up reading Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James T. Farrell. Most influential among these was Hemingway. In an interview for Shots magazine, Krueger described his admiration for Hemingway's prose:
His prose is clean, his word choice perfect, his cadence precise and powerful. He wastes nothing. In Hemingway, what's not said is often the whole point of a story. I like that idea, leaving the heart off the page so that the words, the prose itself, is the first thing to pierce you. Then the meaning comes.

As a mystery genre writer, Krueger credits Tony Hillerman and James Lee Burke as his strongest influences.

Writing process

Krueger prefers to write early in the morning. He began writing in his 30s and had to make time for writing early in the morning before going to work at the University of Minnesota. Rising at 5:30 am, he would go to the nearby St. Clair Broiler, where he drank coffee and wrote longhand in wire-bound notebooks. In return for his loyalty, the restaurant hosted book launches for him. At one of them, the staff wore T-shirts emblazoned with "A nice place to visit. A great place to die." The St. Clair Broiler closed in 2017.

Setting for the Cork O'Connor series

When Krueger decided to set the series in northern Minnesota, he realized that a large percentage of the population was of mixed ancestry. In college, he had wanted to become a cultural anthropologist; he became intrigued by researching the Ojibwe culture and weaving the information into his books. His books are set in and around Native American reservations. The main character, Cork O'Connor, is part Ojibwe and part Irish.
Krueger has read the first Ojibwe historian, William Whipple Warren, as well as Gerald Vizenor and Basil Johnston. He has also read novels by Louise Erdrich and Jim Northrup. Krueger began to meet Ojibwe people because of his interest in their culture.
Krueger believes that the sense of place is made resonant by the actions and emotions of the characters within it. He calls it "a dynamic bond that has the potential to heighten the drama of every scene."

Cork O'Connor

  1. Iron Lake
  2. *Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, hardcover,
  3. *Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, paperback,
  4. *Recorded Books,,
  5. Boundary Waters
  6. *Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, hardcover,
  7. *Recorded Books,,
  8. Purgatory Ridge
  9. *Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, hardcover,
  10. *Recorded Books,,
  11. Blood Hollow
  12. *Atria, Simon & Schuster, hardcover,
  13. *Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, paperback,
  14. Mercy Falls
  15. *Atria, Simon & Schuster, hardcover,
  16. *Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, paperback,
  17. Copper River
  18. *Atria, Simon & Schuster, hardcover,
  19. *Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, paperback,
  20. Thunder Bay
  21. *Atria, Simon & Schuster, hardcover,
  22. *Atria Books, trade paperback,
  23. Red Knife
  24. *Atria Books, hardcover,
  25. *Atria Books, trade paperback,
  26. Heaven's Keep
  27. *Atria Books, hardcover,
  28. *Atria Books, trade paperback,
  29. Vermilion Drift
  30. *Atria Books, hardcover,
  31. *Atria Books, trade paperback,
  32. Northwest Angle
  33. *Atria Books, hardcover,
  34. *Atria Books, trade paperback,
  35. Trickster's Point
  36. *Atria Books, hardcover,
  37. *Atria Books, trade paperback,
  38. Tamarack County
  39. *Atria Books, hardcover,
  40. *Atria Books, trade paperback,
  41. Windigo Island
  42. *Atria Books, hardcover,
  43. *Atria Books, trade paperback,
  44. Manitou Canyon
  45. *Atria Books, hardcover,
  46. *Atria Books, trade paperback,
  47. Sulfur Springs
  48. *Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, Hardcover,
  49. *Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, Trade Paperback,
  50. Desolation Mountain
  51. *Atria Books,
  52. Lightning Strike
  53. *Atria Books,
  54. Fox Creek
  55. *Atria Books, ISBN 978-1982128715
  56. Spirit Crossing
  57. *Atria Books,

    Stand-alone novels

  • The Devil's Bed
  • *Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, hardcover,
  • * Pocket Star paperback
  • Ordinary Grace
  • * Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, hardcover,
  • *Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, trade paperback,
  • This Tender Land
  • * Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, hardcover,
  • The River We Remember
  • *Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, hardcover, ISBN 978-1-9821-7921-2

    Anthologies

  • "Before Swine" in The Silence of the Loons, Nodin Press
  • "Hixton" in Crimes By Moonlight, Berkley Publishing
  • "Bums" in USA Noir, Akashic Books

    Awards

  • Bush Artist Fellowship, 1988
  • Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, 1998
  • Minnesota Book Award, 1999
  • Anthony Award for Best First Novel, 1999
  • Barry Award for Best First Novel, 1999
  • Friends of American Writers Prize, 1999
  • Minnesota Book Award, 2002
  • Readers Choice Award, 2003
  • Anthony Award for Best Novel, 2005
  • Anthony Award for Best Novel, 2006
  • Minnesota Book Award, 2007
  • Northeastern Minnesota Book Award, 2007
  • Dilys Award, 2008
  • Minnesota Book Award, 2008
  • Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, 2013
  • Edgar Award, 2013