Owen, Howard 1949-

(Howard Wayne Owen)

PERSONAL:

Born March 1, 1949, in Fayetteville, NC; son of E.F. and Roxie Owen; married Karen Van Neste (an editor), August 18, 1973. Education: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, A.B., 1971; Virginia Commonwealth University, M.A., 1981. Politics: Liberal. Hobbies and other interests: Travel, cooking, jogging, reading, sports.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Richmond, VA. Office—Richmond Times-Dispatch, P.O. Box 85333, Richmond, VA 23293. Agent—Max Gartenberg, 521 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1700, New York, NY 10175.

CAREER:

Martinsville Bulletin, Martinsville, VA, sports writer, 1971-73; Gastonia Gazette, Gastonia, NC, sports editor, 1973-74; sports editor in Chapel Hill, NC, 1974-77; Tallahassee Democrat, Tallahassee, FL, executive sports editor, 1977-78; Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, VA, assistant sports editor, 1978-83, sports news editor, 1983-92, sports editor, 1992-95, deputy managing editor, 1995—. Military service: National Guard, 1971-77.

MEMBER:

Associated Press Sports Editors Association (regional chairman, 1986-87), PEN, Virginia Writers Club (board of governors, 1997), Virginia Press Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Virginia Press Association, writing awards, 1972 and 1973, certificates of merit, 1988 and 1991; North Carolina Press Association writing awards, 1975 and 1976.

WRITINGS:

Littlejohn (novel), Permanent Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 1992.

Fat Lightning: A Novel, Permanent Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 1994.

Answers to Lucky (novel), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.

The Measured Man: A Novel, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.

Harry and Ruth (novel), Permanent Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 2000.

The Rail (novel), Permanent Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 2002.

Turn Signal: A Novel, Permanent Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 2004.

Rock of Ages (sequel to Littlejohn), Permanent Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Howard Owen is a career newspaper editor who has also distinguished himself as the author of novels that focus on the lives of ordinary characters in small Southern towns. Owen's first work, Littlejohn, concerns the long, often-hard life of a North Carolina farmer. Much of the narrative is composed of recollections as the hero, Littlejohn McCain, ponders his past. Additional narration is supplied by McCain's daughter, who is a professor, and his grandson, an unproductive malcontent. Robert P. Hilldrup, writing in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, noted that Owen "sets a good scene and carries it off without beating it to death," and he praised Littlejohn as "a good first novel." Another positive response was posted by Ron Carter, who declared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch that with Littlejohn, Owen had managed to produce "a sensitive, finely wrought tale filled with fully imagined characters and rich with the music of Southern speech." New York Times Book Review contributor Harry Middleton judged the book "quietly enchanting … a heartfelt celebration of the endurance of the human spirit."

In Fat Lightning: A Novel, Nancy Chastain is adjusting to life in her husband's hometown of Monacan, Virginia, and trying to deal with his eccentric family. Uncle Lot, for example, believes he has seen a vision of Jesus Christ on the side of his barn; a local black preacher wants to start a new church around his vision. Brian McCombie, reviewing the novel for Booklist, found that "heavy-handed symbols intrude, but a good read overall." A Kirkus Reviews contributor described Fat Lightning as "loopy and darkly comic, if sporadically out of control." Erik Esckilsen of Entertainment Weekly felt that Owen's "craftsmanship ignites interest in a place at once hospitable and unwelcoming." A critic for Publishers Weekly found the novel to be a "wise, warm and deeply satisfying story."

Answers to Lucky features a reconciliation between twin brothers who have been alienated. Lucky Sweatt contracts polio as a youth, moving his ambitious father to ignore the boy in favor of his healthy brother Tom Ed. When Tom Ed runs for governor years later, the brothers reunite. "The novel's strength," noted Linda Barrett Osborne in the New York Times Book Review, "lies in its moving portrait of Lucky and Tom Ed." The story of Lucky, according to a Publishers Weekly critic, "gains emotional resonance in Owen's sure evocation of Southern life." According to a critic for Kirkus Reviews, Answers to Lucky is "a completely engaging story about the family ties that bind—tight—and the ego-pricking legacy of growing up poor."

Owen's The Measured Man: A Novel is the story of Walker Fann, an editor at his father's small town newspaper. When local blacks propose construction of a slavery museum, Walker supports the idea while his father opposes it. But Walker is too weak to stand by his beliefs. Robin Nesbitt in Library Journal called The Measured Man a "well-plotted tale [about] race, family, and small-town dynamics." A critic for Publishers Weekly concluded that in this novel Owen "invites read- ers to hold up a yardstick to their own lives to calculate how far their adult behavior has strayed from the idealism of their youth."

An elderly couple is the focus of Harry and Ruth. Harry and Ruth fell in love in 1942, but Harry was unable to marry her because of their religious differences. He marries a Jewish girl instead, leaving Ruth pregnant with their daughter. Late in life, the couple try to tie up the loose ends of their lives and reconcile with their emotionally damaged daughter. A Kirkus Reviews critic found Harry and Ruth to be "a complicated drama, told with compassion and humor." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly explained that "Owen succeeds in capturing the yearnings of two people who are always aware that they belong together" and praised "Owen's old-fashioned storytelling skills."

Owen draws on his experience as a sport editor for The Rail, the story of a successful baseball player who is brought down by a lack of business sense and a love of alcohol. Neil Beauchamp has just been released from prison after serving two years for a drunk-driving accident in which a policeman was killed. Meeting him is his son, David, a journalist who has just lost his job and whose marriage is in crisis. Neil came from a wealthy family, but when he was young, his mother left his father, and Neil never experienced the life of leisure he might have. David is now taking him home to the family manor, which Neil has inherited along with his eccentric half-sister, Blanchard. "The pace is leisurely, the revelations apt and unexpected and the coverage of professional baseball rings absolutely true," observed a Publishers Weekly contributor.

Jack Stone of Turn Signal: A Novel is a long-haul truck driver who leaves his wife, Gina, and daughter, Shannon, for weeks at a time in Speakeasy, Virginia, while delivering his loads. One day, Jack picks up a hitch-hiker who leaves behind a manuscript about the life of a serial killer. Inspired, Jack quits his job, takes another with a local parcel delivery service, and works on the story, expanding it to become his own novel. At his thirtieth high school class reunion, he engages in conversation with Jerry Prince, a classmate and former nerd who has become a New York editor and who has his own imprint. Jerry takes the manuscript, promising to read it, but he never does. In desperation Jack travels to New York to confront Jerry and ensure that his novel is published. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that Owen's "portrayal of the agonies an aspiring writer faces are definitely nerve-wracking."

Rock of Ages, the sequel to Littlejohn, begins a decade after the death of the protagonist of Owen's first novel. Georgia, still a professor and in her fifties, is now once widowed and twice divorced. Georgia returns to East Geddie, North Carolina, to help her son, Justin, now engaged and a Peace Corps volunteer, with the sale of her father's house. Georgia's elderly aunt, Jenny, has been living in the house she formerly owned. Georgia suspects that the house was taken over by the threatening Blackwell family by underhanded means. Also living in the house is Pooh, the scary Blackwell son. Soon after Georgia arrives, Jenny is found dead in a pond, and Georgia realizes that her diamond ring is missing. A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote that "this murder mystery is also a haunting odyssey toward redemption and repatriation." Booklist critic David Pitt described Rock of Ages as being "beautifully written, driven by its lush characterizations."

Owen once told CA that his strengths as a writer are "a good imagination, the discipline and training of twenty-one years of newspapering, and a thorough knowledge of the settings and characters" he writes about. He also told CA that he hopes to impart to readers "a feeling that there is something mystical about my characters, even though those characters often have lived what seem to be ‘ordinary’ lives." In his writing Owen "seeks to celebrate the often-heroic, sometimes-tragic existence of these ordinary people."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Journal of Psychology, December, 1995, review of Littlejohn, p. 1822.

Booklist, June 1, 1994, Brian McCombie, review of Fat Lightning: A Novel, p. 1772; March 1, 1996, Gilbert Taylor, review of Answers to Lucky, p. 1123; February 15, 1997, Jennifer Henderson, review of The Measured Man: A Novel, p. 1005; May 1, 2006, David Pitt, review of Rock of Ages, p. 37.

Entertainment Weekly, September 24, 1993, review of Littlejohn, p. 87; November 18, 1994, Erik Esckilsen, review of Fat Lightning, p. 101.

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, October 24, 1992, Robert P. Hilldrup, review of Littlejohn.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 1992, review of Littlejohn; July 1, 1994, review of Fat Lightning, p. 877; January 1, 1996, review of Answers to Lucky, p. 19; December 1, 1996, review of The Measured Man, p. 1697; June 15, 2000, review of Harry and Ruth, p. 825; February 1, 2002, review of The Rail, p. 134; June 1, 2004, review of Turn Signal: A Novel, p. 512; March 15, 2006, review of Rock of Ages, p. 258.

Library Journal, March 15, 1993, review of Littlejohn, p. 50; July 1, 1994, Thomas L. Kilpatrick, review of Fat Lightning, p. 129; February 1, 1997, Robin Nesbitt, review of The Measured Man, p. 107.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, October 9, 1994, review of Littlejohn, p. 10.

New York Times Book Review, January 17, 1993, Harry Middleton, review of Littlejohn, p. 24; September 4, 1994, Mason Buck, review of Fat Lightning, p. 16; May 5, 1996, Linda Barrett Osborne, review of Answers to Lucky, p. 22; April 27, 1997, David Murray, review of The Measured Man, p. 25.

Publishers Weekly, May 30, 1994, review of Fat Lightning, p. 34; July 11, 1994, review of Littlejohn, p. 76; January 1, 1996, review of Answers to Lucky, p. 56; December 9, 1996, review of The Measured Man, p. 59; June 26, 2000, review of Harry and Ruth, p. 50; April 1, 2002, review of The Rail, p. 54; May 24, 2004, review of Turn Signal, p. 45; May 15, 2006, review of Rock of Ages, p. 53.

Richmond Times-Dispatch, October 4, 1992, Ron Carter, review of Littlejohn.

School Library Journal, August, 1997, Dottie Kraft, review of The Measured Man, p. 188.

Virginia Quarterly Review, summer, 1997, review of The Measured Man, p. 95.

Washington Post Book World, November 7, 1993, review of Littlejohn, p. 11.