Dan Close
DAN CLOSE was born in Brooklyn in 1940. Since then he has lived in East Rockaway, NY; St. Croix, Virgin Islands; Bekoji, Ethiopia; Navajoland; and Manhattan. He currently lives in Underhill, Vermont, where he has resided since 1982. He writes poetry, essays, and short and long fiction. In 2014, his historical novel 'The Glory of the Kings', set in Ethiopia in 1896, received the 2014 Best In Fiction award from Peace Corps Writers. He has also been honored by having an earlier work, 'Stories of the Arusi Hills', included in the Library of Congress' Peace Corps collection, which was accepted by James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, in a ceremony at the Library on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps.
He has just completed a new novel: 'Song of Quebec', a novel set in the years of the Quiet Revolution, which saw the resurgence of the French-Canadian spirit amid the throes of a non-too-quiet reality which contained riots, assassinations, kidnappings, bombings of public buildings, and not too strangely, songs: patriotic songs; songs of remembrance; songs of a political call to arms; and songs of love - for what is a good novel without a hero and a heroine who find each other and fall into each other's arms amid the turmoil?
'The Bold MacGregor', a novel set in contemporary Vermont, Canada, the Alps, and a number of other as-yet-undisclosed locations, is next on Close's agenda, and follows the adventures of Hank MacGregor, a sixty-eight year old widower, as he attempts to build a new life for himself two years after the death of his wife. Yes, there is a new girlfriend, and a dog, and a lot of unsought adventure in store for both Hank and his readers. A gritty, gripping tale with as many twists and turns as a dog chasing its tail.
And after that? Hopefully, more to come!
His books: 'What The Abenaki Say About Dogs...'; 'A Year On The Bus'; and 'The Glory of the Kings' are now also available on Kindle.
He is a member of Peace Corps Writers, The League of Vermont Writers, and the Vermont Poetry Society.
