J. F. (James Farl) Powers (8 July 1917 Jacksonville, Illinois - 12 June 1999 Collegeville, Minnesota) was a Roman Catholic American novelist and short-story writer who often drew his inspiration from developments in the Catholic Church, and was known for his studies of midwestern Catholic priests. Although not a priest himself, he is credited with having captured a "clerical idiom" in the postwar era in North America. His first writing experiment began as a spiritual exercise during a religious retreat.
Powers was a conscientious objector during World War II, which resulted in a prison sentence; later he worked as a hospital orderly.[1]
Although Powers's published output was rather slim, it has long been admired by a devoted band of followers who appreciate his gentle satire and astonishing ability to recreate with a few words the insular but gradually changing world of post-WWII American Catholicism. Flannery O'Connor and Walker Percy praised his work, and Frank O'Connor declared him as "among the greatest living storytellers"[2]
Prince of Darkness and Other Stories appeared in 1947. The Presence of Grace (1956) was also a collection of short stories. Morte d'Urban (1963), which won the National Book Award for fiction the year it was published, was his first novel. Look How the Fish Live appeared in 1975 and Wheat that Springeth Green in 1988.
After moving back and forth from Ireland, Powers settled with his family in Collegeville, Minnesota, where he taught Creative writing and English literature.