Frederick Busch

Frederick Busch (August 1, 1941 – February 23, 2006) was an American writer who authored nearly thirty books, including volumes of short stories and novels.^[1]

Frederick Busch was born in Brooklyn, New York City on August 1, 1941.^[2] He graduated from Muhlenberg College in 1962, and earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1967.^[1] Busch and his wife lived briefly in Greenwich Village, where they scraped by until Busch got a job teaching at Colgate University in 1966.^[3]

Busch was professor of literature at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, from 1966 to 2003.^[1] He also served as acting director of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1978–79.^[2]

Busch had more than 30 books published in his lifetime. He won numerous awards, including the Harry and Ethel Daroff Award in 1985 for Invisible Mending;^[4] the American Academy of Arts and Letters Fiction Award in 1986; and the PEN/Malamud Award in 1991.^[1]

Busch met his future wife, Judith Burroughs, in Allentown, Pennsylvania while attending Muhlenberg College in 1962.^[3] They married in 1963.^[1]

Busch and his wife had two sons, Benjamin and Nicholas. Benjamin Busch is an acclaimed actor. In 1995, Nicholas Busch graduated from Muhlenberg College.^[1]

On February 23, 2006, Busch died of a heart attack in Manhattan, New York City, aged 64.^[1]

• 1962: Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson Foundation
• 1981: Fellowship, Guggenheim Foundation
• 1981: Fellowship Ingram Merrill Foundation
• 1985: National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, Jewish Book Council^[4]
• 1986: American Academy of Arts and Letters Fiction Award
• 1991: PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction
• 1997: New York Times Notable Book for "Girls: A Novel"
• 1999: National Book Critics Circle Award Nomination for The Night Inspector^[5]
• 2000: PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction finalist, for "The Night Inspector^[5]

• I Wanted A Year Without Fall - a novel, London: Calder & Boyars, 1971
• Manual Labor - a novel, New York: New Directions, 1974
• Domestic Particulars: a Family Chronicle, New Directions, 1976
• Mutual Friend, New York: Harper & Row, 1978
• Rounds, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1980
• Take This Man, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1981)
• Invisible Mending: a novel, David R. Godine, 1984
• Sometimes I Live in the Country, David R. Godine 1986
• War Babies, New Directions, 1989
• Harry and Catherine, Knopf, 1990
• Closing Arguments, Ticknor & Fields, 1991
• Long Way From Home, Ticknor & Fields, 1993
• Girls: A Novel, Harmony Books, 1997
• The Night Inspector, Harmony Books (1999)
• A Memory of War, W. W. Norton & Co (2003)
• North: A Novel, W. W. Norton & Co (2005) (sequel to Girls)

• Breathing Trouble and Other Stories, London: Calder and Boyars (1973)
• Hardwater Country - stories, New York: Knopf (1979)
• Too Late American Boyhood Blues: ten stories, David R. Godine (1984)
• Absent Friends, NY: Knopf (1989)
• Children in the Woods: New and Selected Stories, Ticknor & Fields (1994)
• Don't Tell Anyone: Short Stories and a Novella, W. W. Norton & Co (2000)
• Rescue Missions, W. W. Norton & Co (2006)
• The Stories of Frederick Busch, W. W. Norton & Co (2013)

• Hawkes: A Guide to his Fictions, Syracuse University Press (1973)
• A Dangerous Profession: A Book about the Writing Life, St. Martin's Press (1998)
• Letters to a Fiction Writer, edited by Frederick Busch; W. W. Norton & Co (1999)

• Donald J. and Ellen Greiner collection of Frederick Busch at the University of South Carolina Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
• Interview with Frederick Busch
• featured author page at The New York Times
• "Frederick Busch, Author of Poetic Fiction, Dies at 64", The New York Times, February 25, 2006
• "Colgate professor, novelist Frederick Busch dies at age 64", Colgate University, February 26, 2006
• "A Writer’s Writer: A Eulogy for Frederick Busch", Lost Writers, March 12, 2007
• "Stealth Maneuvers: The Stories of Frederick Busch", The New York Times Book Review, December 29, 2013