Richard Russo (born July 15, 1949) is an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and teacher. In 2002, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for his novel Empire Falls. Several of his works have been adapted into television series and movies. He is known for his realistic depictions of rural, small-town life in the Northeastern United States, particularly in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Russo’s native Upstate New York.

Russo was born in Johnstown, New York, and raised in nearby Gloversville. His parents were divorced. His father, Jim Russo, was a highway worker. During Richard Russo’s summer breaks from college, he and his father would work together on the road crew, then stop at pubs to tell stories about their work. Richard Russo has compared his father’s process of altering his stories based on what got a laugh at the previous pub to the process of revising a novel.

He earned a bachelor’s degree, a Master of Fine Arts degree, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Arizona, which he attended from 1967 through 1979. The subject of his doctoral dissertation was the works of the early American writer, historian and editor Charles Brockden Brown. While in graduate school, Russo admired Mark Twain and Charles Dickens’ writing styles.