Mark Costello (Oct. 25, 1936--July 3, 2023), a native of

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Ce ...

, is the author of the story collections ''The Murphy Stories'' (University of Illinois Press, 1973), which won the St. Lawrence Award for Short Fiction, and ''Middle Murphy'' (

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic project ...

, 1991). ''The Murphy Stories'' has received critical praise, and one of its stories, ''Murphy's Xmas'', was anthologized in several collections. Costello taught for many years at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

at Urbana as a creative writing instructor and was a visiting writer at many universities and colleges. He held the Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

at Tuscaloosa and was writer-in-residence at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

Writers Workshop for one year. His story ''Room 601'' has received praise.Emerging Writers Network
/ref> Costello is known for his brevity and the introspective nature of his characters. The stories are set in central Illinois and feature a hard-drinking, hard-living character, Michael Murphy. Costello's work has appeared in literary magazines and anthologies, including ''The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction'', ''The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction'', and ''

Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in con ...

''. He is not related to the Mark Costello who wrote '' Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present'' (1990), with

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and university professor of English and creative writing. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel '' Infinite Jest'', whi ...

. He died in Lakewood, Colorado, on Monday, July 3, 2023.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costello, Mark Writers from Decatur, Illinois American short story writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)