Steve Yates is author of the new Civil War novel, Morkan’s Quarry, released in early summer, 2010. An MFA graduate from the creative writing program at the University of Arkansas, his fiction has won two fellowships from the Mississippi Arts Commission and one from the Arkansas Arts Council. Portions of Morkan ‘s Quarry first appeared in Missouri Review, Ontario Review, and South Carolina Review. A novella-length excerpt was a finalist for the Faulkner Society ‘s William Faulkner — William Wisdom Award for Best Novella. Yates is a native of Springfield, MO, where his novel is set.
His book was published by Moon City Press, a new press recently created to zero in on work related to Missouri and Ozark Mountains. The press is operated by the Departments of English and Design at the University of Missouri. His short fiction has appeared in Texas Review, Turnstile, Nebraska Review, North Dakota Quarterly, and other journals. He is assistant director / marketing director at University Press of Mississippi in Jackson and lives in Flowood with his wife Tammy. Steve will appear at Words & Music on Friday, November 19 do discuss how the Civil War dehumanized the South and Border States with acclaimed Civil War novelist Howard Bahr.