William Kittredge
William Kittredge (born 1932) is an American writer from Oregon, United States. He grew up on a ranch in Southeastern Oregon's Warner Valley in Lake County where he attended school in Adel, Oregon, and later would attend high school in California and Oregon.[1] At age 35 he retired from ranching and enrolled in Iowa Writers' Workshop at University of Iowa where he completed his MFA. He taught creative writing at University of Montana.
Kittredge's father Oscar was friends with leadership in the Republican Party in Oregon. Oscar was to be picked up by Oregon Governor Earl Snell for a hunting trip in October 1947 when the plane Snell and Oregon Secretary of State Robert Farrell, among others, crashed en route, killing all four on board.[1] Two years later, in 1949, William entered Oregon State University in Corvallis.[1]
He became a major voice with his 1987 collection of essays, Owning It All, about the modern West. He followed with his famous book, Hole in the Sky: A Memoir.[1] His book The Nature of Generosity holds forth on the value of what he terms extreme long loop altruism, elaborating with refreshing insights and wisdom on sustainability, civilization, and its relationship to culture, history, and human nature. He was also co-producer of the movie A River Runs Through It.
He has received numerous awards including a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford and Writing Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. With Annick Smith, he edited The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology.
Works authored
- We Are Not In This Together (1984)
- Owning It All: Essays (1987)
- Hole in the Sky: A Memoir (1992)
- Who Owns the West? (1994)
- The Nature of Generosity (2000)
- Southwestern Homelands (2002)
- The Willow Field (2006)
- The Next Rodeo: New and Selected Essays (2006)
References
Further reading
- William Kittredge. McFarland, Ronald E. 2002. Boise State University western writers series, no. 152. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University