Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Read-Alikes
Keith Lee Morris is an associate professor of English and creative writing at Clison University. His short stories have been published in A Public Space, Southern Review, Ninth Letter, StoryQuarterly, New England Review, The Sun, and the Georgia Review, among other publications. The University of Nevada published his first two books: The Greyhound Gods (2003) and The Best Seats in the House (2004). He lives in Clison, South Carolina.
This bio was last updated on 06/01/2017. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.
Both the The Dart League King and your previous novel, The Greyhound God, seem to draw heavily on placethe local dialects, habits and particularities of the people. Has this always been an important means in building your characters?
I dont start with place, really, at least not intentionally. Im much more likely at the outset to be thinking character, plot, theme, language, structure. I end up setting most of my fiction in Idaho because I realize that, when it comes time to start writing the scenes, thats where I see them happening in my head, back in my old hometown. And the characters tend to act and speak like people back in Idaho, etc.its really more a function of how my imagination works than anything else.
Your writing tends to focus on the underdog, the little guy. Do you tend to gravitate toward characters like that?
I read somewhere that Richard Yates once said he felt that his whole career had been an ongoing attempt to defend the underdog, or words to that effect. I feel the same way. I didnt grow up around people who had money and attended private schools. Most of my friends were from blue-collar families, and, of my really close ...
Harvard is the storehouse of knowledge because the freshmen bring so much in and the graduates take so little out.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.