James (Tad) Richards (born March 31, 1940) is an American writer and visual artist. He is also artistic director and former president of Opus 40, the sculpture park in

Saugerties, New York Saugerties () is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in the northeastern corner of Ulster County, New York, Ulster County, New York (state), New York. The population was 19,038 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 C ...

. Richards was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1940. In 1943, his mother married the sculptor

Harvey Fite Harvey Fite (December 25, 1903 – May 9, 1976)
. ...

, who created Opus 40 from 1939 to 1976. He attended

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, ...

(where Fite was on the faculty) before earning a Master of Fine Arts from the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative W ...

. At Iowa, he studied with

Paul Engle Paul Engle (October 12, 1908 – March 22, 1991), was an American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and as co-founder of the International W ...

Donald Justice Donald Rodney Justice (August 12, 1925 – August 6, 2004) was an American teacher of writing and poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1980. In summing up Justice's career, David Orr wrote, "In most ways, Justice was no different from a ...

and

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

. He has taught literature, composition and creative writing at several institutions, including

Winona State University Winona State University (Winona) is a public university in Winona, Minnesota. It was founded as First State Normal School of Minnesota in 1858 and is the oldest member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. It was the first no ...

, the State University of New York at New Paltz and

Marist College Marist College is a private university in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1905, Marist was formed by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators. In 2003, it became a secular in ...

. Richards began publishing in 1964, with three poems in

Poetry Magazine ''Poetry'' (founded as ''Poetry: A Magazine of Verse'') has been published in Chicago since 1912. It is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. Founded by Harriet Monroe, it is now published by the Poetry Foundati ...

. During the 1960s, he was a regular contributor to ''

The Realist ''The Realist'' was a Humor magazine, magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire", intended as a hybrid of a grown-ups version of Mad (magazine), ''Mad'' and Lyle Stuart's anti-censorship monthly ''The Independent.'' Edited and ...

'',

Paul Krassner Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American author, journalist, and comedian. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key ...

's satirical magazine. His first non-pseudonymous novel, ''Cherokee Bill'' (a collaboration with his brother Jonathan Richards), was published by

Dell Books Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and so ...

in 1974. Since then, he has published 18 novels, including a novelization of the

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

movie '' Blazing Saddles'' (1974). His most recent novel is ''Nick and Jake'' (

Arcade Publishing Arcade Publishing is an independent trade publishing company that started in 1988 in New York, USA. It publishes American and world fiction and nonfiction. The company was started and run by Richard Seaver and his wife Jeannette.Weber, Bruce (J ...

). ''Nick and Jake'' has also been produced as an audio play starring

Alan Arkin Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an American actor, director and screenwriter known for his performances on stage and screen. Throughout his career spanning over six decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award ...

Tom Conti Tommaso Antonio Conti (born 22 November 1941) is a Scottish actor, theatre director, and novelist. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1979 for his performance in '' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' and was nominated for the Academy Aw ...

and

Ali MacGraw Elizabeth Alice MacGraw (born April 1, 1939) is an American actress and activist. She gained attention with her role in the film ''Goodbye, Columbus'' (1969), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She gained an ...

. His screenwriting credits include ''

The Cheerleaders ''The Cheerleaders'' (U.K. theatrical title: ''The 18 Year Old Schoolgirls'') is a 1973 comedy film directed by Paul Glickler, starring Stephanie Fondue and Denise Dillaway. Plot A group of high school cheerleaders have sex with the opposing t ...

'' (1973), a sexploitation film characteristic of the era. Richards has written 16 works of nonfiction. ''Struggle and Lose, Struggle and Win: The Story of the United Mine Workers'' (written with

Elizabeth Levy Elizabeth Levy (born April 4, 1942) is an author who has written over eighty children's books in a variety of genres. Born in Buffalo, New York, she is currently living in New York City. She has appeared as a contestant on "Funny Or Die's Billy ...

) was listed by ''

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 ...

'' as one of the best young adult books of 1977. Several of his books on finance with Neale Godfrey have been bestsellers. He has also written extensively on music and poetry; additionally, several of his songs have been recorded by Orleans, the John Hall Band, and

Fred Koller Fred Koller (born March 5, 1950 in Chicago) is an American singer-songwriter. He has been active in the music business since 1973. Fred lives and works in Nashville with his wife Trish and their cat Buddy. Music career Koller has written over 3 ...

References

External links

*''Rhythm and Blues'', fro
The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture''New Orleans Rhythm and Blues''
in '' The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture'' *''Jazz'', fro
the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culturereview of Rachel Loden's ''Dick of the Dead''
in ''

Jacket (magazine) ''Jacket'' (now published as ''Jacket2'') is an online literary periodical, which was founded by the Australian poet John Tranter. The first issue was in October 1997. Until 2010, each new number of the magazine was posted at the Web site pie ...

'' 38.
''Selling Secrets''
in ''

The Cortland Review ''The Cortland Review'' is an online literary magazine established in 1997, publishing in 6 annual issues the work of prominent poets and writers in text, audio, and video. See also * List of literary magazines External links * Bimonthly ...

'' issue 17. {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Tad 1940 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists People from Saugerties, New York American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Bard College alumni Winona State University faculty State University of New York at New Paltz faculty Marist College faculty