Dennis McFarland

Dennis McFarland is an American novelist who is known for his blend of literary elements. McFarland has authored several novels including The Music Room and School for the Blind.

Life

McFarland attended Brooklyn College where he earned his B.A. in 1975. He also attended Goddard College and Stanford University. McFarland taught at both these institutions later in his life. At Stanford, McFarland was a teacher of creative writing from 1981 to 1986. He married Michelle Simons and fathered two children. He resides in Watertown, Maine and San Francisco, California.

Career

McFarland's first novel, The Music Room, was published in 1990. The New York Times said the novel was genuine and emotional. It became a New York Times bestseller. McFarland told the Washington Post that his success was due to "a lot of good luck".

McFarland's second novel, School for the Blind chronicles several elderly characters as they look into their troubled pasts. Sven Birkerts, a literary critic for the New York Times, said that School for the Blind was "...in tone and intensity and final effect, as unlike its predecessor as it is possible to be."

McFarland's third and fourth novels, A Face at the Window and Singing Boy dealt with the themes of alcoholism and death.

Selected bibliography

• The Music Room (1990)
• School for the Blind (1994)
• A Face at the Window (1997)
• Singing Boy (2001)
• Prince Edward (2004)
• Letter from Point Clear (2007)

External links

• Official Dennis McFarland website
• Dennis McFarland at the Random House website
• Books by Dennis McFarland at Open Library
• Review of "School for the Blind" at The New York Times