William O'Rourke

Who is William O'Rourke?

William O'Rourke is an American writer of both novels and volumes of nonfiction; he is the author of the novels The Meekness of Isaac, Idle Hands, Criminal Tendencies, and Notts, as well as the nonfiction books, The Harrisburg 7 and the New Catholic Left, Signs of the Literary Times: Essays, Reviews, Profiles, and On Having a Heart Attack: A Medical Memoir. He is the editor of On the Job: Fiction About Work by Contemporary American Writers and the co-editor of Notre Dame Review: The First Ten Years. His book, Campaign America ‘96: The View From the Couch, first published in 1997, was reissued in paperback with a new, updated epilogue in 2000. A sequel, Campaign America 2000: The View From the Couch, was published in 2001.

He has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and he was the first James Thurber Writer-in-Residence in 1984 at the Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio, and was awarded a New York State Council on the Arts award for his first novel, The Meekness of Isaac. On Having a Heart Attack was awarded a Bronze Medal in ForeWord Magazine’s 2006 Book of the Year awards, Health category.