Rick Bass

Rick Bass (born March 7, 1958) is an American writer and an environmental activist. He has a Bachelor of Science in geology with a focus in Wildlife from Utah State University. Right after he graduated, he interned for one year as a Wildlife Biologist at the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company in Arkansas. He then went onto working as an oil and gas geologist and consultant before becoming a writer and teacher. He has worked across the United States at various universities: University of Texas at Austin, Beloit College, University of Montana, Pacific University, Montana State University, Iowa State University. He teaches at the Stonecoast MFA low-residency program in Maine. He has done many workshops and lectures on writing and wildlife throughout his career. Texas Tech University, Texas State University, and University of Texas at Austin have collections of his written work.

Life Bass was born in Fort Worth, Texas.

His papers are held in two collections: the Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community, and the Natural World, part of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University, and Texas State University–San Marcos's Wittliff Collections.

He won the 1995 James Jones Literary Society First Novel Fellowship for his novel in progress, Where the Sea Used to Be.

He was a finalist for the Story Prize in 2006 for his short story collection The Lives of Rocks.

He was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award (autobiography) for Why I Came West (2008).

He was also awarded the General Electric Younger Writers Award, a PEN/Nelson Algren Award Special Citation for fiction, and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.

Works

Fiction (Originally published 1989)

(Originally published 1998) (Originally published 2002)

The Blue Horse: A Novella. Narrative Library. 2009.

For a Little While: New and Selected Stories. Little, Brown and Company. 2016.

Nonfiction (Originally published 1985) (Originally published 1987)

(Originally published 1992) (Originally published 1995) (Originally published 1996) (Originally published 1998)

(Originally published 2000)

The Heart Beneath the Heart: An Essay on Writing and Life. Narrative Library. 2011.

A Thousand Deer: Four Generations of Hunting and the Hill Country. University of Texas Press. 2012. The Traveling Feast: On the Road and at the Table with My Heroes. Little, Brown and Company. 2018. With Every Great Breath: New and Selected Essays, 1995-2023. Counterpoint. 2024. Wrecking Ball: Race, Friendship, God, and Football. High Road Books. 2025. ISBN 978-0-82636-856-0

As Editor The Roadless Yaak: Reflections and Observations About One of Our Last Great Wild Places. 2002 Falling From Grace in Texas: A Literary Response to the Demise of Paradise. Wings Press. 2004. With Paul Christensen, Ed. Fortunate Son: Selected Essays from the Lone Star State. High Road Books. 2021.

Anthologies Pushcart Prize O. Henry Award. Best American Short Stories 1991 Best American Short Stories 1996 Best American Short Stories 1999 Best American Short Stories 2001. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013

About Rick Bass, non-fiction by others The Literary Art and Activism of Rick Bass, edited by O. Alan Weltzein, (2001).