Rick Shefchik

Last updated
Rick Shefchik
Born (1952-05-09) May 9, 1952 (age 71)
Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • writer
  • journalist
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Dartmouth College
Genre Non-fiction
Website
www.rickshefchik.com

Rick Shefchik (born May 9, 1952) is an American novelist, nonfiction writer, and journalist. He is the author of the novels Amen Corner, published in 2007, Green Monster , published August 1, 2008 by Poisoned Pen Press, Frozen Tundra , published in 2010 by North Star Press and Rather See You Dead, e-published in 2011. 2012 saw the release of his first book of nonfiction, From Fields to Fairways: Classic Golf Clubs of Minnesota (University of Minnesota Press). In 2015, he released Everybody's Heard About the Bird: The True Story of 1960s Rock 'n' Roll in Minnesota (University of Minnesota Press). [1] In October 2021, he announced on Facebook that he was collaborating with musician Paul Metsa on a work of historical nonfiction centered on the Minnesota musicians who played on Bob Dylan’s 1975 album Blood on the Tracks , for release in 2022 by the U of M Press.

Contents

Fiction

A mystery/thriller set at the Masters Tournament of golf, Amen Corner centers on Minneapolis police detective and amateur golfer Sam Skarda, as he competes in his first Masters and hunts for a crazed killer determined to put an end to the tournament. It is the first in a series about Skarda and his adventures investigating crime in the sports world. The second, Green Monster, has Skarda traveling to the East Coast in response to an anonymous note received by the owner of the Boston Red Sox, claiming the 2004 World Series was fixed. Frozen Tundra concerns Skarda's attempts to prevent the Green Bay Packers football team from being sold to a private owner, which somebody is murdering various board members to try to bring about. Rather See You Dead is a thriller about the contemporary repercussions of a possible meeting between Elvis Presley and John Lennon in 1960.

Journalism career

From 1993 to 2004, he wrote the weekly syndicated newspaper column "Go Ask Dad", which appeared in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press and other papers nationwide. The column offered an offbeat, warm and often humorous take on fatherhood. The column's insights won it numerous awards, including from the National Society for Newspaper Columnists (First Place, Humor, 1999), and the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists Page One Award. He also contributed to two projects that won the Frank Premack Public Affairs Journalism Award from the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota.

Life

Born in Duluth, Minnesota, he graduated from Dartmouth College. After working in public relations and as a full-time musician, he began his journalism career at the Duluth News Tribune in 1978. After moving to the Pioneer Press, he worked as a sportswriter, television critic and music critic before the creation of "Go Ask Dad". In 2006, he left the newspaper to become a full-time novelist.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Hiaasen</span> American novelist

Carl Hiaasen is an American journalist and novelist. He began his career as a newspaper reporter and by the late 1970s had begun writing novels in his spare time, both for adults and for young-adult readers. Two of his novels have been made into feature films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humorist</span> Intellectual who uses humor in writing or public speaking

A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business entertainers whose business is to make an audience laugh. It is possible to play both roles in the course of a career. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way.

New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non-fiction. Using extensive imagery, reporters interpolate subjective language within facts whilst immersing themselves in the stories as they reported and wrote them. In traditional journalism, the journalist is "invisible"; facts are meant to be reported objectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Reilly</span> American sportswriter

Richard Paul Reilly is an American sportswriter. Long known for being the "back page" columnist for Sports Illustrated, Reilly moved to ESPN on June 1, 2008, where he was a featured columnist for ESPN.com and wrote the back page column for ESPN the Magazine. Reilly hosted ESPN's Homecoming with Rick Reilly, an interview show, and he is a contributing essayist for ESPN SportsCenter and ABC Sports.

Ripsaw was a Duluth, Minnesota newspaper published from 1917 to 1926 and again from 1999 to 2005. The paper was a scandal sheet during the first years of publication, with a reputation for muckraking, sensationalism and criminal libel. The revival was similar in tone, though the publishers changed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjorie Williams</span> American journalist (1958–2005)

Marjorie Williams was an American writer, reporter, and columnist for Vanity Fair and The Washington Post, writing about American society and profiling the American "political elite."

The Minnesota Daily is the campus newspaper of the University of Minnesota, published Monday and Thursday while school is in session, and published weekly on Wednesdays during summer sessions. Published since 1900, the paper is currently the largest student-run and student-written newspaper in the United States and the largest paper in the state of Minnesota behind the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The Daily was named best daily college newspaper in the United States in 2009 and 2010 by the Society of Professional Journalists. The paper is independent from the University, but receives $500,000 worth of student service fees funding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Blum</span> American journalist

Deborah Blum is an American science journalist and the director of the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of several books, including The Poisoner's Handbook (2010) and The Poison Squad (2018), and has been a columnist for The New York Times and a blogger, via her blog titled Elemental, for Wired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linwood Barclay</span> American born, Canadian humourist, author and former columnist.

Linwood Barclay is an American-born Canadian author, noted as a novelist, humorist, and (former) columnist. His popular detective novels are bestsellers in Canada and internationally, beginning with No Time for Goodbye in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter May (writer)</span> Scottish writer

Peter May is a Scottish television screenwriter, novelist, and crime writer. He is the recipient of writing awards in Europe and America. The Blackhouse won the U.S. Barry Award for Crime Novel of the Year and the national literature award in France, the CEZAM Prix Litteraire. The Lewis Man won the French daily newspaper Le Télégramme's 10,000-euro Grand Prix des Lecteurs. In 2014, Entry Island won both the Deanston's Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and the UK's ITV Crime Thriller Book Club Best Read of the Year Award. May's books have sold more than two million copies in the UK and several million internationally.

Rick Wolff was an American book editor, author, college coach, broadcaster, and onetime professional baseball player. He was the son of Hall of Fame Sportscaster Bob Wolff. He was Senior Executive Editor at Large with Kevin Anderson and Associates and hosted "The Sports Edge" on WFAN Sports Radio.

<i>Amen Corner</i> (novel) Book by Rick Shefchik

Amen Corner is a 2007 novel by American author Rick Shefchik, published March 9 by Poisoned Pen Press. A mystery/thriller set at the Masters Tournament of golf, it centers on Minneapolis police detective and amateur golfer Sam Skarda, as he competes in his first Masters and tries to stop a crazed killer determined to put an end to the tournament. It is the first in a series about Skarda and his adventures investigating crime in the sports world. The second, Green Monster, was published August 1, 2008.

David Poole Anderson was an American sportswriter based in New York City. In 1981 he won a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary on sporting events. He was the author of 21 books and more than 350 magazine articles.

Daniel Thomas Jenkins was an American author and sportswriter who often wrote for Sports Illustrated. He was also a high-standard amateur golfer who played college golf at Texas Christian University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Minikahda Club</span> Golf course and club in Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Minikahda Club is a private country club in southwest Minneapolis, Minnesota. The club is located just west of Bde Maka Ska and is the oldest country club west of the Mississippi River. The clubhouse, which is situated on a high hill, overlooks the lake and has expansive views of the surrounding area and the Minneapolis skyline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Leston Taylor</span> American poet

Bert Leston Taylor was an American columnist, humorist, poet, and author.

The 1985 U.S. Open was the 85th U.S. Open, held June 13–16 at the South Course of Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit. Andy North, the 1978 champion, won his second U.S. Open title by a stroke over runners-up Dave Barr, Chen Tze-chung, and Denis Watson.

Green Monster is a 2008 novel by American author Rick Shefchik. It was published August 1 by Poisoned Pen Press.

Sarah Stonich is an American writer and editor based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her novel Vacationland was published by the University of Minnesota Press in April 2013.

References

  1. "Page 2".