Raymond Carver (1938 - 1988)

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"Why don't you kids dance? he decided to say, and then he said it. "Why don't you dance?" "I don't think so," the boy said. "Go ahead," the man said. "It's my yard. You can dance if you want to."*

Carver is known for his poems and short stories that deal with the frustrations of the working class - frustrations he knew well.

Born in Clatskanie, Oregon, Carver worked at a sawmill after graduation from high school. Other jobs followed including gas station attendant, hospital janitor, and deliveryman, all held to support his growing family. He earned enough money to attend Humboldt State College in California where he received a B.A. degree in English in 1963. That same year, the Carver family moved to Iowa City so that he could attend the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, but because of financial difficulties, Carver had to leave the two-year program one year early. After teaching at the University of California at Berkeley, he returned to Iowa in 1973. Then a widely published writer, he taught at the Writers' Workshop.

His poetry books include Near Klamath (1968), Winter Insomnia (1970), and the posthumous A New Path to the Waterfall (1989). His stories are collected in Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? (1976) and Furious Seasons (1977).

* "Why Don't You Dance" in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
(Alfred A. Knopf, 1981)