Wells Tower is an American writer of short stories and non-fiction. In 2009 he published his first short story collection, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned to much critical acclaim. His short fiction has also been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, McSweeney's, Vice, Harper's Magazine, A Public Space, Fence and other periodicals.
Early life, education, and early career
Tower was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, but grew up in North Carolina. He played guitar in the punk band Hellbender for 6 years beginning his senior year of high school. He received a B.A. in anthropology and sociology from Wesleyan University and an M.F.A. in fiction writing from Columbia University's School of the Arts. After graduating from Wesleyan, he traveled around the United States doing odd jobs. He began his professional career when he convinced an editor at The Washington Post Magazine to publish an article about a carnival worker. Tower is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, the 2002 Plimpton Prize from The Paris Review, and a Henfield Foundation Award.
Writing career
published Tower's first short story collection, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned in 2009. The book was reviewed in the New York TimesBook Review by Edmund White and in the New York Times by Michiko Kakutani. Kakutani picked it as one of her ten best books of 2009. It was also a finalist for The Story Prize. The short story from which the collection's title is taken is about a community of Vikings growing older, told in a modern-day vernacular, in a similar vein as the film Severed Ways. In June 2010, Tower was named as one of The New Yorker magazine's "20 under 40" luminary fiction writers. On June 10, 2010, he was presented with the Tenth Annual New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, a $10,000 prize for an American writer under 40. His work was selected for The Best American Short Stories 2010. Since 2010, his nonfiction reporting has been featured in The Best American Sports Writing three times, for "Own Goal", originally published in Harper's Magazine and a finalist for a National Magazine Award for Profile Writing; "Welcome to the Far East Conference", originally published in GQ; and "Who Wants to Shoot an Elephant?", originally published in GQ. In 2014, Tower was a finalist for two National Magazine Awards, in Essays and Criticism for "The Old Man at Burning Man" and in Fiction for "The Dance Contest." In a segment from the July 19, 2018 episode of the Still Processing podcast, host Jenna Wortham discussed an incident involving Tower at a public reading held as part of the 2018 Tin House Summer Writer's Workshop in Portland, Oregon. The piece Tower selected to read from featured direct quotes from homeless individuals, some of which were allegedly misogynistic. According to Wortham, several members of the audience walked out in protest. Tower issued a public apology at an assembly the following day.
