Raymond Kennedy (March 3, 1934 – February 18, 2008) was an American novelist.

Background

Raymond Kennedy was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts to James Patrick Kennedy and Orise Belanger and was the youngest of three brothers. Kennedy spent his formative years in Belchertown and Holyoke. He would later set many of his books in the region.

Career

After serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, Kennedy returned home and, under the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

, studied at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

, graduating in 1960 with a degree in English. While there, he studied under the poets

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

and Joseph Langland, as well as writing teachers Bob Tucker and Doris Abramson. Shortly after graduating, Kennedy moved to New York City's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. In the 1960s and 1970s, he worked as a staff editor, first for

Collier's Encyclopedia ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' is a discontinued general encyclopedia first published in 1949 by P. F. Collier and Son in the United States. With ''Encyclopedia Americana'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Collier's Encyclopedia'' became one of the th ...

and later for the

Encyclopedia Americana ''Encyclopedia Americana'' is a general encyclopedia written in American English. It was the first major multivolume encyclopedia that was published in the United States. With ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclo ...

. In 1982, he joined the faculty of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, where he taught creative writing until his retirement in 2006.

Legacy

Kennedy's archives are maintained at Boston University's Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center and are open to the public.

Literary works

His novels include: * ''My Father's Orchard'' (1963) * ''Good Night, Jupiter'' (1970) * ''A Private Station'' (1972) * ''Columbine'' (1981) * ''The Flower of the Republic'' (1983) * ''Lulu Incognito'' (1988) * ''Ride a Cockhorse'' (1991) * ''The Bitterest Age'' (1994) * ''The Romance of Eleanor Gray'' (2003)

References

Boston Globe obituary

New York Sun obituary

Chicago Tribune obituary

1934 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American novelists American satirists 21st-century American novelists University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Writers from Holyoke, Massachusetts {{US-novelist-1930s-stub