James Harrison

Born in Grayling, Michigan, in 1937, Jim Harrison became one of the most versatile literary voices of his generation. He published more than three dozen books across poetry, fiction, nonfiction, children's literature, and memoir, and he also wrote screenplays, reviews, and essays on food, travel, and sport.

His writing is closely tied to the landscapes of the American Midwest and West, and readers often return to it for its blend of rough humor, tenderness, and hard-won wisdom. Among his best-known books are Legends of the Fall and Dalva, and his work earned lasting recognition for the way it joined the wildness of nature with the complexities of family, desire, and loss.

Harrison died in 2016, but his books continue to attract readers who want fiction and poetry that feel both earthy and expansive. Whether he was writing a short poem or a long novella, he had a gift for making life seem larger, stranger, and more immediate.