Minnesota Author Biographies.

David Haynes

David Haynes

From Heathens (1996) by David Haynes

On a Sunday afternoon in April Marcus Gabriel and his son Ali are trapped in the express lane at the Highland Park Country Lane market. In the middle of preparing a batch of dump cookies as a peace offering to Marcus’s mother, Verda, they have run out of sugar. Marcus hates days like this: cool, bugless spring days when every Lutheran in St. Paul starts the car only to drive around aimlessly. The Catholics, too. Outside the grocery the streets are clotted with traffic – much worse than State Fair time. At least at fair time the Lutherans and the Catholics and the farmers stay up by the fairgrounds. Driving the two miles from Tangletown to the supermarket, no less than four drivers courteously yielded the right-of-way to Marcus. “All that niceness,” Marcus said to Ali, “That’s what causes accidents.”

Biographical Notes

Birth: August 30, 1955, St. Louis, Missouri

Author David Haynes earned a B.A. in literature from Macalester College, Minnesota in 1977 and a M.A. from Hamline University, Minnesota in 1989. A former fifth and sixth grade teacher, he served as a teacher in residence at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Haynes also served on the leadership team at the experimental Saturn School of Tomorrow. His book Right by My Side (1993) was a winner in the 1992 Minnesota Voices Project and was selected by the American Library Association as one of 1994's best books for young adults. Two of Haynes's stories have been recorded for the National Public Radio series "Selected Shorts". In 1996 Granta magazine named Haynes as one of the best young American novelists. Haynes is currently an associate professor and the director of creative writing at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Selected Works
The titles below link to the catalog record in MnPALS, the Minnesota Historical Society’s library catalog. Please click on your browser's back button to return.

All American Dream Dolls
Business as Usual
The Everyday Magic of Walterlee Higgins
The Full Matilda: A Novel
The Gumma Wars
Heathens: A Novel
Live at Five
Right by My Side: A Novel
Somebody Else's Mama

Additional Resources

Minnesota Historical Society Library Links

• Search MNHS Library and Archives Catalog for author - Searches for works by this author in the Minnesota Historical Society library
Imagining Home: Writing from the Midwest edited by Mark Vinz and Thom Tammaro
Northern Lights Episode #338
Northern Lights Episode #418
Photographers: A Sourcebook for Historical Research by Richard Rudisill

Web Links

Bold Type: David Haynes - Random House web page featuring a book excerpt and a short interview
"David Haynes and The Full Matilda" - Southern Methodist University web page highlighting David Haynes and his 2004 book The Full Matilda.
"David Haynes" - Brief interview

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