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John R. (Richard Adams) Humphreys

Born: 06/07/1918   Mancelona , MI
Died: 08/25/2003
Parents: Son of John C. and Blanche Adams and adopted by step-father, Harold L. Humphreys
Spouse: June, 1942; Joan, 1955; Peggy, 1959
Children: Catherine

Writings

Image Title Genre Audience Publisher Date
Maya Red Historical Fiction Adult New York : Cane Hill Press 1989
Timeless Towns and Haunted Places Non Fiction Adult New York : St. Martin's Press 1989
Subway to Samarkand
- Notable Books of the Year selection by New York Times Book Review 		Fiction Adult New York : Doubleday 1977
The Last of the Middlewest Non Fiction Adult Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday 1966
The Lost Towns and Roads of America Non Fiction , Travel Adult New York, Harper & Row 1961 -1967
The Dirty Shame Fiction , Michigan Adult New York, Dell Pub. Co. 1955
Vandameers Road Fiction , Michigan Adult New York, C. Scribner's Son 1946
Michael Finney and the Little Men
- This story was dramatized on The Big Show 		Fiction
What is the aim or goal of your writing: Contemporary Authors says, " I was aware I had a certain facility with words that I'd picked up from my extensive reading while I was in grade school, but my spelling was so miserable no one thought to encourage me. At that time I was interested in a career in the theater and received a fellowship at a New York dramatic school. In college, as a freshman, my English composition instructor spotted the writer in me (my spelling was still atrocious and still is), and in short order I was winner of two Hopwood Awards in fiction. This was enough for me to decide to switch from theater to fiction writing."

May inquiries be sent to you about doing workshops, readings: No

Donated books to the Authors & Illustrators database project: No

Skills:
Author

Awards:

Name Date
Bancroft Award, Distinguished Retiring Professor, Columbia University 1988
Distinguished Teacher Award, Columbia University 1981
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship 1979
Guggenheim Fellow in the field of the Novel 1947
Huntington Hartford Fellowship
McDowell Fellowship
Wurlitzer Fellowship
Two Hopwood Awards for Fiction Writing, University of Michigan

Inclusion in biographical or critical works:

Name Date
Michigan Authors, 2nd ed., 3rd. ed.
- Publication years: 1980, 1993 		1980 -1993
Contemporary Authors
-  Contemporary Authors, volume(s) 1-4R Contemporary Authors - Obituary, volume(s) 219 Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, volume(s) 22, 50 (1996) 		1968 -2011

Education:

Degree Institution Location Date
Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) University of Michigan Ann Arbor , MI 1936 -1940

Career:

Position Organization Location Date
Editor Cane Hill Press Santa Fe 1988
Literary Consultant Doubleday Publishers New York 1973 -1977
Senior lecturer Columbia University New York 1967 -1988
Director of creative writing program Columbia University New York 1962 -1988
Disc Jockey KTRC Santa Fe 1960
Photographer and color technician Paddock Studios 1957 -1959
Member of English Department Columbia University, School of General Studies New York 1946 -1988
Feature writer Detroit Free Press Detroit , MI 1940 -1941
First Lieutenant U. S. Army/Signal Corps

Other Resources:

MeLCat Links:
http://elibrary.mel.org/search~S15?/aHumphreys%2C+John+R.%2C+1918-/ahumphreys+john+r+1918/-3%2C-1%2C0%2CB/exact&FF=ahumphreys+john+r+1918&1%2C5%2C

Last Modified On: 6/28/2017 12:00:00 AM