“I write a little every day, without hope and without despair.” — Isak Dinesen
Bob Thurber (b. 1955)
“I’m unschooled. Self-taught. No academic credentials of any kind, no degrees in literature or anything else. I don’t say that to be snide towards a proper education, merely to point out the raw aspect of my work and what some have praised as the 'unique quality' and 'authenticity' of my voice. Though I lack formal training, I did undergo a long apprenticeship, maintaining a strict , rather obsessive, daily routine of study and writing for over 20 years before I attempted to publish.”
"I've had more success than I ever aspired to, received more praise and prizes than I imagined my work would bring, and these days, despite vision loss, I’m a happy guy with a nice home, a loving and supportive family, and a few near and dear friends whom I would do anything for and vice versa. I’m talking about people you can call up at 3 AM and, without batting an eye, they’d raise bail money or pay your ransom."
​
— Grew up “dirt poor” in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
A stone-throw from the Slater Mill on the Blackstone River.
— Graduated Tolman high school “by the skin of his teeth.”
— At the age of 19, bought a used electric typewriter and set out to become a writer. (Still owns a couple of manual typewriters.) Fed a roll of paper to the machine so he wouldn't have to stop typing to reload sheets.
— Though he never attended a writing class, he studied and wrote nearly every day for 20 years before he submitted his work for publication.
— Sold his first story at the age of 42 to a local newspaper.
— Went on to publish a few hundred more, and receive a long list of awards and citations.
​
— Bob is the author of six books. He's got a few more in the works.
— Has been called: A raw and unique talent, A maestro of micro-fiction, A pioneer of Flash Fiction, An emotional terrorist, and The Sam Peckinpah of Flash Fiction.
— His work has appeared in over 60 anthologies.
— A number of his stories have been used in schools and colleges, on reading assessments, oral interpretations, as 'teaching tools" and examples of concise prose.
— Lives in Massachusetts, where, despite severe vision loss, he still manages to write every day.
— His debut novel “PAPERBOY: A Dysfunctional Novel” was original released in May, 2011 from Casperian Books. A second edition of the book was released in 2016 from Shanti Arts.
— Any questions...?
contact Bob at bobthurber@yahoo.com
Awards
​​(2000 - 2015)
• Winner of The Barry Hannah Fiction Prize
• Winner of The Marjory Bartlett Sanger Award
• Finalist for The Donald Barthelme Prize for Short Prose
• Winner of Newport Review's Flash Fiction Contest
• Winner of Ramble Underground’s Fiction Contest
• Flashquake, 1st Prize for Fiction
• Winner of The Meridian Editors' Prize
• Finalist for Southeast Review's "World's Best Short Short Story"
• 2nd Prize in Missouri Writer's Guild award, Flash Fiction
• Three consecutive “Firebox Fiction” Awards From Night Train
• Finalist for The Eric Hoffer Prose Award
• Finalist for Writer's Digest Short-Short Contest
• Runner up in Geist’s Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest
• 2nd Prize, Flashquake Fiction
• 2nd Prize in Lumina's National Flash Fiction Contest
• Finalist for Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Contest
• 2 Honorable Mentions in Geist’s Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest,
• Finalist for Orchid's Fiction Contest
• Winner of Word Riot's Flash Fiction Contest
• Editor's Choice Award for Online Fiction
• Finalist for Writer's Digest Short-Short Contest
• Three Citations from The New England Writers Association,
• Received Linnaean Street’s “Prix de Linnaeus” award
• Readers Choice Award for Online Fiction
• Orchid's Short Fiction Contest, 2 Honorable Mentions
• New Millennium Writings Award, 2 Honorable Mentions
• Missouri Writer's Guild award for Flash Fiction, 2nd Prize
• Winner of the Whidbey Writers Workshop Students' Choice Award
• Soul Making Literary contest, 3rd Prize, Flash Fiction
• Finalist for Esquire’s Short-short Fiction Contest
• 2nd Prize in Literary Juice’s Fiction Contest
• Winner of Vocabula’s Well Written Contest
• Penn Cove Literary Arts Award (0ct. 2013)
• Hall of Fame / Fiftywordstories.com
​
• Story of The Year / Fiftywordstories.com
• Multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize
• Selections have appeared in over 75 anthologies including the anthology Best New Writing 2016, and the The Marie Alexander Poetry Series Nothing To Declare: A Guide to The Flash Sequence
I took to writing at an early age to escape from meaninglessness, uselessness, unimportance, insignificance, poverty, enslavement, ill health, despair, madness, and all manner of other unattractive, natural and inevitable things.
— William Saroyan