Barry Lopez
{{Infobox writer | name =Barry Lopez | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name =Barry Holstun Lopez | birth_date =January 6, 1945 | birth_place =Port Chester, New York | death_date = | death_place = | occupation =Writer, lecturer | nationality =American | genre =Fiction, non-fiction, short story, essay | movement =humanitarian, environmentalist | notableworks =Arctic Dreams, Of Wolves and Men | signature = }} Barry Holstun Lopez (born January 6, 1945) is an American author, essayist, and fiction writer whose work is known for its humanitarian and environmental concerns. He won the National Book Award for Nonfiction for Arctic Dreams (1986)[1] and his Of Wolves and Men (1978) was a National Book Award finalist.[1]
Biography
Lopez was born in Port Chester, New York[2] and raised in Southern California and New York City.[3] He attended the University of Notre Dame, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees there in 1966 and 1968. He also attended New York University and the University of Oregon.[2] His essays, short stories, reviews and opinion pieces began appearing in 1966.[4] Until 1981, he was also a landscape photographer.[5] He regularly collaborates with other artists and writers and is active in national and international efforts toward reconciliation.[6] He has traveled to nearly 80 countries[7] and in 2002 was elected a Fellow of the Explorers Club.[8]
Lopez has been described as "the nation's premier nature writer" by the San Francisco Chronicle. In his non-fiction, he frequently examines the relationship between human culture and physical landscape, while in his fiction he addresses issues of intimacy, ethics and identity. He has written introductions for and guest edited a number of books and anthologies, including Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape, with Debra Gwartney, The Best American Spiritual Writing 2005, and The Future of Nature. In 2008, he guest edited two volumes of the journal Manoa with Frank Stewart, Maps of Reconciliation and Gates of Reconciliation.[9] Lopez along with Peter Matthiessen, Terry Tempest Williams, and James Galvin, was hailed in Mark Tredinnick's The Land's Wild Music (Trinity University Press, 2005) in which Tredinnick analyzed how the landscape nourished and developed Lopez's writing.
An archive of Lopez's manuscripts and other work has been established at Texas Tech University,[10] where he is the university's Visiting Distinguished Scholar.[6][8]
Lopez lives near Finn Rock on the McKenzie River in western Oregon.[11]
Bibliography
Fiction
- Desert Notes: Reflections in the Eye of a Raven (1976)
- Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter (1978)
- River Notes: The Dance of Herons (1979)
- Winter Count (1981), Distinguished Recognition Award, Friends of American Writers[12]
- Crow and Weasel (1990), Parents' Choice Award[13]
- Field Notes: The Grace Note of the Canyon Wren (1994), Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award,[14] Critics' Choice Award[5]
- Lessons from the Wolverine (1997)
- Light Action in the Caribbean (2000)
- Resistance (2004), Oregon Book Award
- Outside (2014)
Nonfiction
- Of Wolves and Men (1978), National Book Award finalist, John Burroughs Medal, Christopher Medal, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award
- Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape (1986), National Book Award, Christopher Medal, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, Oregon Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award finalist[15]
- Crossing Open Ground (1988)
- The Rediscovery of North America (1991)
- About This Life: Journeys on the Threshold of Memory (1998)
- Apologia (1998)
Anthology
- Vintage Lopez (2004). Collected essays and short stories.
Books edited by Barry Lopez
- Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape, edited by Barry Lopez and Debra Gwartney. San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2010.
- The Future of Nature: Writing on a Human Ecology from Orion, selected and introduced by Barry Lopez. Milkweed Editions, 2007.
His writing has appeared in Harper's, Orion, The New York Times Magazine, Granta, The Sun, and Manoa, and in Best American Essays, Best American Spiritual Writing, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and the "best of" collections from Outside, National Geographic, The Paris Review, Witness, and The Georgia Review.[6]
Awards
- National Book Award
- Award in Literature, American Academy of Arts and Letters
- Lannan Literary Award
- Guggenheim Fellowship
- John Burroughs Medal
- John Hay Medal
- Three Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Awards
- Two Oregon Book Awards
- Two Pushcart Prizes
- Two Christopher Medals
- PEN Syndicated Fiction Award
- Five National Science Foundation Antarctica Fellowships
- New York Public Library Literary Lion Award
- Lannan Residency Fellowship
- MacDowell Colony Residency Fellowship
- Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Award
- Oregon Governor's Award
- Lifetime Achievement Award, [Oregon] Literary Arts
- Elected Fellow of the Explorers Club
References
- 1 2 "The National Book Foundation". Nationalbook.org. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
- 1 2 Evans, Alice. "Leaning Into the Light: An Interview With Barry Lopez." Poets & Writers March/April 1994 [22(2)], pp 62-79.
- ↑ Shapiro, Michael. "The Big Rhythm: A Conversation with Barry Lopez on the McKenzie River." Michigan Quarterly Review Fall 2005 [44(4)], pp 583-610.
- ↑ Barry Lopez: An Inventory of His Papers (Part 1), 1964-2001 and undated, at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library
- 1 2 Newell, Mike. No Bottom: In Conversation with Barry Lopez. XOXOX Press: Ohio. 2008.
- 1 2 3 Barry Lopez official website
- ↑ Profile at Key West Literary Seminar website
- 1 2 Marquis. Who's Who in America 2008. Marquis Who's Who: Providence, NJ.
- ↑ Manoa website Archived June 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Texas Tech University :: Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library". Swco.ttu.edu. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
- ↑ Wadsworth, Lois (April 25, 2002). "Between Two Worlds". Eugene Weekly. Archived from the original on June 17, 2007. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
- ↑ Friends of American Writers Chicago website
- ↑ Finding aid for Tom Pohrt Archive, 1980-2004, University of Michigan Special Collections Library
- ↑ Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association 1995 Book Awards Archived March 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ National Book Critics Circle Award past winners and finalists
Further reading
- Newell, Mike. No Bottom: In Conversation with Barry Lopez. XOXOX Press: Ohio. 2008.
- Tydeman, William E. Conversations with Barry Lopez: Walking the Path of Imagination. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, OK. 2013.
- Warren, James Perrin. (2015). Other Country: Barry Lopez and the Community of Artists University of Arizona Press
- Wild, Peter (1984). Barry Lopez. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University "Western Writers Series" (#94). pp. 49. ISBN 978-0884300380; OCLC 10984800
External links
- Barry Lopez (official website)
- Works by or about Barry Lopez in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Barry Lopez papers at Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University
- Interview with Bill Moyers
- Interview with Terry Gross