Larry Woiwode
Fiction, Memoir, Poetry
Larry Alfred Woiwode was an American writer whose semi-autobiographical fiction reflects his early childhood in a tiny town on the western North Dakota plains, the home of five generations of his family.
Woiwode first published fiction while at the University of Illinois, which he attended from 1959 to 1964. His short stories and poetry later appeared in such magazines as Harper’s, Partisan Review, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. Beginning in 1965, The New Yorker gave a first reading to all his work, an arrangement that lasted for several decades. Woiwode taught and led writing workshops at Dartmouth College and various universities, including the State University of New York at Binghamton, where (1985–88) he was a full professor and director of the writing program.
Woiwode’s critically acclaimed first novel, What I’m Going to Do, I Think (1969), is a study of a newly married couple. Beyond the Bedroom Wall: A Family Album (1975) is a multigenerational saga of a North Dakota family; Born Brothers (1988) continues the story of Charles and Jerome Neumiller, characters from Beyond the Bedroom Wall who also appear in The Neumiller Stories (1989). Poppa John (1981) concerns an out-of-work television actor, and Indian Affairs (1992) is a sequel to What I’m Going to Do.
