Bob Cowser, Jr.

Bob Cowser, Jr.'s most recent book GREEN FIELDS: CRIME, PUNISHMENT AND A BOYHOOD BETWEEN won "Best Memoir 2010" from the Adirondack Center for Writers, and one excerpted chapter was listed among the "Other Notable Essays" in the BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2012 anthology. His first book, DREAM SEASON, was a New York Times Book Review "Editor's Choice" and "Paperback Row" selection and was listed among the Chronicle of Higher Education's best-ever college sports books. Cowser is also the author of SCOREKEEPING, a collection of coming-of-age essays, and editor of WHY WE'RE HERE: NEW YORK ESSAYISTS ON LIVING UPSTATE, and his work has appeared widely in American literary magazines, including River Teeth, Fourth Genre, The Pinch, the Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, Brevity, and Creative Nonfiction. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Cowser grew up in rural west Tennessee. He graduated summa cum laude from Loyola-New Orleans in 1992 with majors in English and Print Journalism, then earned a Master's in English at Marquette University in 1994 and a PhD in creative writing from the University of Nebraska in 1998. He is now Professor of English at St. Lawrence University, where he teaches courses in nonfiction writing and American literature and was named the 2012 Owen D. Young Outstanding Faculty Member. He is also currently New York State Coordinator for the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program and has taught internationally in England, France, and Denmark.