About the Author
Mark Harris, born in Mount Vernon, N.Y. in 1922, has been writing for more than 50 years. He is best known for four novels, all written in the first person, about the life and experience of a major-league baseball player named Henry W. Wiggen -- The Southpaw (1953), Bang the Drum Slowly (1956), A Ticket for a Seamstitch (1957) and It Looked Like For Ever (1979). He also wrote the screenplay for the 1973 film version of Bang the Drum Slowly.



In 1946, Harris published his first novel Trumpet to the World, about a young black soldier whose wife is white. Something About a Soldier (1957) also explores military life. Many of his other novels -- Wake Up, Stupid (1959), The Goy (1970) and Lying in Bed (1984) -- have dealt with academic life. His own experience has also informed the novel Mark the Glove Boy, or The Last Days of Richard Nixon (1964), the autobiographical Twentyone Twice (1966) and Best Father Ever Invented (1976). He has also published a collection of articles entitled Short Work of It, as well as a play (Friedman and Son) and a unique biography of Saul Bellow, entitled Saul Bellow, Drumlin Woodchuck (1980).



Throughout his writing career, Mark Harris has taught at the university level. He holds a Ph.D. in American studies from the University of Minnesota. He is currently Professor of English at Arizona State University in Tempe.