Richard Dann
Some readers are interested in more information about authors of their favorite books, especially fiction writers. GLB Publishers presents capsule info about authors, with the permission of the authors, of course. Send us your e-mail to select the ones who interest you!
| Send e-mail to glbpubs@mindspring.com |
Richard Dann (a pseudonym) was born and grew up in the Midwest. With
a father who was a sometime jazz musician and a mother who was a linguist
of note and a descendant of Noah Webster, it was not inappropriate that Dann
largely spent his childhood playing the piano and composing music and reading
through his grandfather's library. In his teens he studied music theory and
composition privately and went directly into the graduate program at the
Eastman School of Music. He graduated with a master's degree in composition
at the age of twenty. A distinguished career was promised. It proved merely
interesting and various.
After two years' service with the U.S. Army in the Far
East, he settled in Los Angeles to study with the expatriate Austrian composer
Ernst Krenek, who did not encourage him to continue. He did not. He turned
to language and literature, taught in several colleges long enough to produce
a successful textbook for a major New York publisher, and was encouraged
to pursue a doctorate in English language and literature. Upon completing
that degree, Dann served for a number of years as a senior editor at an important
university press.
At present Dann resides in Virginia, where he runs his
own business as an editorial consultant, a situation that allows him to pursue
his creative interests: composing music and writing fiction. While he has
published various professional articles and reviews in his areas of technical
and scholarly expertise, Hardball for Billy Budd is his first
work of fiction. He is now polishing a sequel to Hardball and writing a book
of interrelated short stories based on his army experience.
[I regret to report that Richard Dann passed away in 2002. (His publisher)]