Robert Root

Robert Root was born in Lockport, New York, the setting for his memoir, “Happenstance.” He attended the State University College at Geneseo and taught high school English in Wilson, New York, before getting his MA and PhD at the University of Iowa. After twenty-eight years teaching courses in composition, literature and film, creative nonfiction, and the teaching of writing at Central Michigan University, he began teaching creative nonfiction in the low-residency MFA Program in Creative Writing at Ashland University. He has also taught at the Loft Literary Center and the Lighthouse Writers Workshop. He has spoken on composition and creative nonfiction at national and regional conferences and been a visiting writer in college writing programs, as well as an artist-in-residence at Isle Royale, Rocky Mountain, and Acadia National Parks. He was Interview/Roundtable Editor for the journal “Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction.” In addition to articles and essays on teaching and writing, he has published several books on writing, including the composing study “E. B. White: The Emergence of an Essayist” and “The Nonfictionist’s Guide: On Reading and Writing Creative Nonfiction” and he was co-editor with Michael Steinberg through six editions of “The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of/on Creative Nonfiction,” a popular anthology. He edited the anthology “Landscapes With Figures: The Nonfiction of Place” and has written several works of creative nonfiction, including the essay collection “Postscripts: Retrospections on Time and Place,” the collection of radio essays “Limited Sight Distance: Essays for Airwaves,” and two historical travel books, “Recovering Ruth: A Biographer’s Tale” and “Following Isabella: Travels in Colorado Then and Now.” He and his wife live in Waukesha, Wisconsin.