William Harrison (author)

William Neal Harrison (October 29, 1933 – October 22, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.

Three films were based on two of his works: The short story "Roller Ball Murder" was turned into a screenplay for the 1975 film Rollerball, with a remake in 2002. The novel Burton and Speke was turned into the 1990 film Mountains of the Moon.

Five of his novels are set in Africa and his three volumes of short stories contain most of his fifty published stories. Many of his stories that appeared in Esquire and the novel Africana were experimental in tone. His fiction is distinguished by the exotic and sometimes hostile settings in which he places his characters.

Early in his career, John Leonard wrote in The New York Times, "He is that rare young novelist who writes equally well about action and ideas." David Black, a reviewer for The Nation wrote, "Burton and Speke…has a quality that is even rarer than excellence: it is a likable book, one of those uncommon novels you will carry with you in your imagination long after turning the final page."

Harrison was the adopted son of Samuel Scott and Mary Harrison, and grew up in Dallas, Texas, attending public schools. His mother read widely, kept elaborate scrapbooks featuring both family members and celebrities, and wrote devotional poetry.

Harrison attended Texas Christian University, where he became editor of the campus newspaper, The Skiff, and began to write. He later attended Vanderbilt University where he studied to teach comparative religion at the divinity school, but once again he began to write and made lifelong friends in the Department of English. After a year teaching in North Carolina at Atlantic Christian College, he moved his young family to Iowa where he studied in the creative writing program for ten months. At Iowa he sold his first short story to Esquire and published reviews in The Saturday Review.

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