(1938 - 1989)
Raymond Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, to a saw mill worker father and a mother who worked odd jobs. Carver graduated from high school in 1956, then married and had two children before he was twenty. He and his family experienced difficult years as Carver struggled to develop a writing career while supporting his family. When Carver was at Chico State College (now California State University at Chico), he enrolled in a creative writing course that greatly affected him. Carver earned a B.A. degree in 1963 from Humboldt State College in Eureka and spent the following year writing and studying at the University of Iowa.
As Carver became famous, he lectured on creative writing and English at different universities. He taught at Goddard College in Vermont and was a professor of English at Syracuse University from 1980 to 1983. In 1983, the earned the Mildred and Harold Straus living award, which enabled him to devote the next half-decade to writing.
Carver's first short story collection, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please (1976) was among the nominees for the National Book Award. His other short story collections include What We Talk about When We Talk About Love (1981) and Cathedral (1984). Carver's five volumes of poems, some of which are: Near Klamath (1968), Ultramarine (1986), and A New Path to the Waterfall (1989), his last book. During the end of his life, Carver lived with the poet and short story writer Tess Gallagher and married her shortly before his death.