Verlyn Klinkenborg (born 1952 in

Meeker, Colorado Meeker is the Statutory Town in and the county seat of Rio Blanco County, Colorado, United States, that is the most populous municipality in the county. The town population was 2,475 at the 2010 United States Census. Description The town i ...

) is an American non-fiction

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, academic, and former newspaper editor, known for his writings on rural America.

Early life and education

Klinkenborg was born in

and raised on a farm in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

. He attended elementary school in

Clarion, Iowa Clarion is a city in and the county seat of Wright County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,810 at the time of the 2020 census. Clarion is the birthplace of the four-leaf clover emblem used by the 4-H Clubs of America, conceived of in 1 ...

until the 6th grade before his family relocated to

Osage, Iowa Osage is a city in Mitchell County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,627 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Mitchell County. Geography Osage is located at (43.284618, -92.812129). According to the United States C ...

. His family then moved to

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. Klinkenborg attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became t ...

. He then earned a Ph.D from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, also in English literature.

Career

Klinkenborg taught literature and creative writing at Fordham University while living in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

in the early to mid-1980s. He later taught at St. Olaf College,

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

, Sarah Lawrence College,

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. In 1991, he received the

Lila Wallace Lila Bell Wallace (December 25, 1889 – May 8, 1984) was an American magazine publisher and philanthropist. She co-founded ''Reader's Digest'' with her husband Dewitt Wallace, publishing the first issue in 1922. Early life and education Born Li ...

–

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

Writer's Award and a

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

fellowship. Klinkenborg's books include ''More Scenes from the Rural Life'' ( Princeton Architectural Press), ''Making Hay'' and '' The Last Fine Time''. His book ''Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile'' concerns the

tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like oth ...

which the English eighteenth century

parson-naturalist A parson-naturalist was a cleric (a "parson", strictly defined as a country priest who held the living of a parish, but the term is generally extended to other clergy), who often saw the study of natural science as an extension of his religious wo ...

Gilbert White Gilbert White FRS (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a " parson-naturalist", a pioneering English naturalist, ecologist, and ornithologist. He is best known for his ''Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne''. Life White was born on ...

inherited from his aunt, as described in his 1789 book ''

The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne ''The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne'', or just ''The Natural History of Selborne'' is a book by English parson-naturalist Gilbert White (1720–1793). It was first published in 1789 by his brother Benjamin. It has been continuou ...

''. In the first half of 2006, Klinkenborg posted a farm and garden blog about The Rural Life, consisting of entries from the daily journal kept by

in Selborne in 1784, and his own complementary daily entries. From 1997 to 2013, he was a member of the editorial board of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. Klinkenborg has published articles in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', '' Harper's Magazine'', '' Esquire'', '' National Geographic'' and ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

'' magazines. He has written a series of editorial opinions in ''The New York Times''; these are generally literary meditations on rural farm life. On December 26, 2013, he announced in that column that it was to be the last he would be writing in that space. From 2006 to 2007, he was a visiting writer-in-residence at

, where he taught nonfiction writing. In 2007, he received a Guggenheim fellowship, which funded his book ''The Mermaids of Lapland'', about

William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign ...

. In 2012, he published “Several Short Sentences About Writing”. He currently teaches creative writing at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

and lives on a small farm in

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

Bibliography

Books

*The Rural Life *More Scenes from the Rural Life (Princeton Architectural Press) *Making Hay * The Last Fine Time *Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile * Several Short Sentences About Writing

Book reviews

References

External links

Biography
from ''The New York Times''

from ''The New York Times'', September 5, 2006

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klinkenborg, Verlyn 1952 births Living people 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American Book Award winners American newspaper editors Bard College faculty Harvard University faculty Journalists from Upstate New York People from Clarion, Iowa People from Meeker, Colorado People from Osage, Iowa Place of birth missing (living people) Pomona College alumni Princeton University alumni The New York Review of Books people The New York Times columnists Watson Fellows Writers from Iowa Writers from New York (state) American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers