Kent Haruf

Kent Haruf – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Delve into the life and work of Kent Haruf (1943–2014), the American novelist known for his spare, evocative fiction set on the High Plains. Explore his biography, major novels, style, quotes, and lasting literary legacy.

Introduction

Kent Haruf was an American novelist whose quiet, understated prose gave voice to the profound emotional landscapes of ordinary lives. Born in 1943 and passing in 2014, he wrote novels centered on the fictional small town of Holt, Colorado, that have earned him critical acclaim and a devoted readership. His best-known works include Plainsong, Eventide, Benediction, and the posthumously published Our Souls at Night. His writing is often praised for its authenticity, simplicity, and deep sense of place.

Early Life and Family

Alan Kent Haruf was born on February 24, 1943 in Pueblo, Colorado.

Because of his father’s ministry, Haruf grew up in religious settings and rural environments, and he later said he had originally aspired to become a rancher, following the work of his grandfathers.

He graduated from Cañon City High School in 1961.

Education & Early Struggles

Haruf enrolled at Nebraska Wesleyan University, initially studying biology but ultimately switching to English. He graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.

After college, Haruf taught in the Peace Corps in Turkey for two years, teaching English.

During the Vietnam War era, because he was a conscientious objector, Haruf fulfilled alternative service—working in a rehabilitation hospital in Denver and in an orphanage in Montana.

He eventually returned to Nebraska Wesleyan as an assistant professor in 1976, teaching and writing during summers.

He applied to the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop more than once—initially rejected, he moved to Iowa City, worked odd jobs (even as a janitor), and persisted. He was later accepted and earned an MFA.

Nevertheless, his writing remained unpublished for many years. He has said he wrote for about 20 years before his first novel sold.

Literary Career & Major Works

Early Novels

Haruf’s first novel, The Tie That Binds (1984), was published when he was 41. The Tie That Binds earned a Whiting Award and a special citation from the Hemingway Foundation / PEN.

His second novel, Where You Once Belonged (1990), further develops his interest in small-town lives, family, regret, and quiet inner tensions.

Breakthrough: The Holt Trilogy & Later Novels

Haruf’s widespread success came with Plainsong (1999). Plainsong was a New York Times bestseller, a finalist for the National Book Award, and sold nearly a million copies by 2004.

He followed Plainsong with Eventide (2005), a direct sequel continuing life in Holt.

Later came Benediction (2013), which focuses on “Dad” Lewis, a hardware store owner suffering from terminal illness, and the people whose lives connect to him.

While battling lung disease in 2014, Haruf wrote Our Souls at Night, which centers on two widowed neighbors who begin spending nights together to stave off solitude. The novel was completed shortly before his death and published posthumously in 2015.

Style and Themes

Haruf’s writing is often described as spare, unadorned, and deeply humane. community, connection, regret, kindness, and the hidden tensions beneath the surface.

A recurring device is setting all of his novels in the same fictional small town (Holt, Colorado), which becomes a kind of moral and topographical center for his work.

He was influenced by writers such as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and John Steinbeck.

Legacy & Influence

Kent Haruf’s work has had enduring influence, especially among readers drawn to quiet, introspective fiction. Some key aspects of his legacy:

• Plainsong and its sequels are frequently taught in university literature courses as exemplary works of American literary minimalism.

• His fashioning of Holt as a repeated setting creates a cumulative, layered understanding of place and character over multiple works.

• He is celebrated as a writer who drew profound meaning from the “ordinary.” His ability to touch on loss, aging, love, and community without melodrama is often cited as exemplary.

• In Colorado, he is sometimes called one of the state’s finest novelists, with deep ties to the landscapes and small towns of the region.

• His final novel, Our Souls at Night, achieved wide attention in part because of its poignant context and later film adaptation, bringing Haruf’s voice to new audiences even after his death.

His manuscripts, drafts, and papers are archived at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.

Notable Quotes

Here are some representative quotations from Kent Haruf that reflect his view of writing, life, and human nature:

• “I began writing seriously in my mid-20s and didn’t publish my first book until I was 41.”

• “Writing is the hardest thing I know, but it was the only thing I wanted to do.”

• “Death is a fact of life, no matter where you live. Taking care of the dying is a necessity everywhere.”

• “Fame isn’t healthy for a writer.”

• “In terms of showing their emotions and acting on them, my women characters are a lot more advanced than the men.”

• “We’d do better to follow the admonition of Jesus about loving our neighbors.”

• From Our Souls at Night (as quoted on Goodreads):

  “You have to believe in yourself despite the evidence.”

• Also from Our Souls at Night / Benediction:

  “Who does ever get what they want? It doesn’t seem to happen to many of us if any at all. It’s always two people bumping against each other blindly, acting out old ideas and dreams and mistaken understandings.”

These lines showcase his humility, his patience with failure, his moral awareness, and his belief in human dignity even in small, difficult moments.

Lessons from Kent Haruf

1. It’s never too late to begin
   Haruf’s first novel was published when he was 41, after decades of doubt, toil, and persistence.

2. Beauty lies in the modest
   His work reminds us that even in unassuming lives, there are stories worth telling and depths worth exploring.

3. Place shapes character
   His fictional town of Holt shows how settings—landscape, climate, social ties—mold human choices and relationships.

4. Quiet honesty over grand gestures
   Haruf chose restraint: letting characters speak, act, live. His gentler style often reveals more than noisy drama.

5. Connection across time
   By placing multiple novels in the same locale, he shows how one life and one place reverberate across generations.

Conclusion

Kent Haruf was a writer of rare sensibility: a voice not of spectacle but of stillness; not of epic arcs but of inner reckonings. His novels, set on the High Plains in the town of Holt, carve out space for humility, loss, love, and dignity in ordinary lives. His influence will remain in the quiet corners of American literature, where readers seek stories that linger.