Author
David Guterson
Birth Date
May 4, 1956
(70 Years)
Associated Country
United States
David Guterson is an American novelist, journalist, essayist, and nonfiction writer best known for his literary fiction set in the Pacific Northwest. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, he studied at the University of Washington and worked as a teacher before becoming a full-time writer.
Guterson achieved international acclaim with Snow Falling on Cedars (1994), a bestselling novel centered on a murder trial involving a Japanese American fisherman in the years after World War II. The book explores themes of prejudice, memory, justice, and the legacy of Japanese American internment, and it later received a film adaptation. His fiction is often noted for its atmospheric settings, moral complexity, and careful psychological detail.
In addition to novels, Guterson has written essays, short fiction, and journalism addressing social and cultural issues. His work frequently reflects an interest in community life, personal ethics, and the relationship between individuals and the natural environment, making him an important contemporary voice in American literature.
Guterson achieved international acclaim with Snow Falling on Cedars (1994), a bestselling novel centered on a murder trial involving a Japanese American fisherman in the years after World War II. The book explores themes of prejudice, memory, justice, and the legacy of Japanese American internment, and it later received a film adaptation. His fiction is often noted for its atmospheric settings, moral complexity, and careful psychological detail.
In addition to novels, Guterson has written essays, short fiction, and journalism addressing social and cultural issues. His work frequently reflects an interest in community life, personal ethics, and the relationship between individuals and the natural environment, making him an important contemporary voice in American literature.
Books
Evelyn in Transit 2026
Radically open-minded, formidably strong, and unusually clear-eyed about herself and others, Evelyn Bednarz has always been a misfit. She’s easily bored, unsuited to life at school, asks odd questions...
The Final Case 2022
A girl dies one late, rainy night a few feet from the back door of her home. The girl, Abeba, was born in Ethiopia. Her adoptive parents, Delvin and Betsy Harvey—conservative, white fundamentalist...
Ed King 2011
In Seattle in 1962, Walter Cousins, a mild-mannered actuary-"a guy who weighs risk for a living"-takes a risk of his own, and makes the biggest error of his life. He sleeps with Diane Burroughs, the...
The Other 2009
John William Barry and Neil Countryman shared a love of the outdoors, trekking often into Washington's remote backcountry where they had to rely on their wits—and each other—to survive. Soon after...
Ann Holmes is a fragile teenaged runaway who receives a visitation from the Virgin Mary one morning while picking mushrooms in the woods of North Fork, Washington. In the ensuing days the miracle...
When he discovers that he has terminal cancer, retired heart surgeon Ben Givens refuses to simply sit back and wait. Instead he takes his two beloved dogs and goes on a last hunt, determined to end...
Guterson's short stories are set largely in the Pacific Northwest. In these vast landscapes, hunting, fishing, and sports are the givens of men's lives. With prose that stings like the scent of...
San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese...
Family Matters 1993
An honest, perceptive discussion of children, education, and our common life as a nation by the bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars. A high school English teacher, Guterson and his wife...
Ten sharply observed, funny, and wise new stories from the best-selling author of Snow Falling on Cedars: stunning explorations of the mysteries of love and our complex desire for connection.
Ranging...