Clay Morgan - 1950
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Advanced English III
Emmett High School, Emmett ID
Clay Morgan is an award-winning author who has spent much of his life in Idaho. He has published two novels, two books of essays on Idaho, columns, essays, and reviews, as well as many other writings. In these writings, Morgan incorporates many of his life experiences. Morgan and his various works have contributed greatly to the literary tradition of Idaho.
I. Personal Biography
Clay Michael Morgan was born October 15, 1950, in Portland, Oregon. His family lived there for two more years while his father finished medical school ("Class"). Over the years, the Morgan family expanded to four children. Morgan grew up with one older sister and two younger brothers ("Re: Class").
The family moved quite often when Morgan was a young boy. In 1952, they made their first move from Portland to Fort Lewis, Washington, where his father, Dr. Morgan, worked at the Madigan Army Hospital. The family's next move was to Mather Air Force Base in California in 1954. After two years there, they moved to Nyssa, Oregon, where Dr. Morgan started a private medical practice. Finally, in 1959, the family settled in Boise, Idaho, where Morgan spent the remainder of his childhood. Apparently, Morgan was an ambitious child. Once, he tried to read the encyclopedia all the way from A to Z ("Tomb"). However, it seems that he preferred riding his bicycle to the reading, as he never finished them. Morgan says he loved growing up in Idaho because he "felt totally free to go anywhere [his] bike would take [him]" ("Re: Class"). Morgan also loved to go backpacking, sailing, and skiing in the Idaho outdoors ("Biographical" 2).
After graduating from Boise's Capital High School in 1968, Morgan attended Stanford University in California ("Biographical" 1). It was there that he met his future wife, then Barbara Radding. Morgan traveled Europe for six months while attending college and toured the continent as part of the Stanford-in-France Program. In 1972, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Writing (2). In his talk, "The Tomb of the Unknown Essayist," Morgan admits he was at best "a good student and little more." However, he buckled down and earned his MFA in Fiction Writing from the University of Montana. During his studies there, Morgan traveled South America for five months ("Biographical" 2).
After college, Clay Morgan married Barbara Radding in Fresno, California, on June 6, 1978 (1). Their first year of marriage was spent in Quito, Ecuador (2). While there, Barbara taught English and Science to the Ecuadorean school children, and Morgan wrote his first novel, Aura . His experiences in Ecuador greatly influenced his second novel Santiago and the Drinking Party ("Re: Class"). The couple returned to the U. S. after twelve months, and later had two sons, Adam and Ryan ("Morgan Receives").
The family lived in McCall, Idaho, from 1979 to 1998. There, Barbara worked as a teacher at McCall-Donnelly Elementary School. In 1985, Barbara was selected as a back-up NASA Teacher-in-Space. She trained as a substitute for Christa McAuliffe at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. After the Challenger Accident, she assumed the duties as the Teacher-in-Space and, in 1998, she was selected for astronaut training (Astronaut). The Morgan family moved to Houston, Texas, to be near her, and that is their current residence ("Wife's"). Barbara is currently awaiting a space flight assignment (Astronaut).
II. Professional Biography
Clay Morgan's primary profession, of course, is writing. During his travels in Europe and especially South America, Morgan read constantly. When he returned home, he realized he wanted to write like the authors he had read during his experiences abroad ("Tomb"). His earliest writings include short fiction published in 1975 in Cutbank and the Chariton Review and poetry in Slackwater Review. While living in Idaho, Morgan worked as an editor for the U.S. Forest Service. His duties included writing environmental impact statements, land management plans, and other general writings ("Biographical" 2).
Since his move to Texas, Morgan has written for NASA. He wrote the Johnson Space Center's Year 2000 annual report and, also, a 2000 page website on the MIR Shuttle for the Russians, which should be online later this year. Currently, Morgan is finishing a history of the MIR Shuttle Program for NASA. This should be published this year ("Class").
Clay Morgan once wrote, "Novelists are generally unemployed" ("Biographical" 1), but he has held many different jobs throughout his adult life. He was a teaching assistant at the University of Montana. There he taught two courses of remedial composition and three of freshmen composition. When he moved to McCall, Morgan taught extension courses in literature, creative writing, and composition for Lewis-Clark State College (2). Later he taught both writing and literature for Boise State University ("Class"), and, along with Robert Wrigley, directed their annual Writer's and Reader's Rendezvous in McCall ("Morgan to be Given"). He taught many writing workshops at colleges all over the state of Idaho and Montana, and from 1976 to 1981 he taught poetry to elementary school children when he participated in the Idaho Poets-in-the-Schools Program ("Biographical" 2).
Since moving to Texas, Morgan has been teaching at the University of Houston--Clear Lake. He teaches writing and serves on the Humanities Graduation Program Board. Morgan has, also, started the University's first ever Master's program in Space Exploration and Study ("Class").
Clay Morgan's "summer job" when he lived in Idaho was smoke jumping. (A smoke jumper parachutes into wilderness areas to fight wildfires.) Morgan made 167 jumps in twelve fire seasons all over the western U.S. and Alaska ("Re: Class"). Morgan has worked on a novel about wildfires and smoke jumping ("Morgan to be Given").
Morgan also worked for two years as a commentator on National Public Radio's program "All Things Considered." He did over fifty commentaries during his radio career ("Class"), including a series on wildfires and firefighting. For one broadcast during the series, Morgan strapped a tape recorder to his chest and narrated a smoke jump into an Idaho fire ("Morgan Receives"). It was heralded by NPR's Renee Montaigne as the best live reporting she had ever heard. The live broadcast can still be heard at the National Smoke Jumpers Website --
http://www.smokejumpers.com ("Class").III. Works
Clay Morgan's first novel, Aura, was published in 1984. This novel about epilepsy and memory won the Idaho Fiction Competition ("Biographical" 1). The novel itself was inspired by a classmate of Morgan's at the University of Montana who had epilepsy ("Tomb").
His second novel Santiago and the Drinking Party was published in 1992 and won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. The manuscript of the work earned the Idaho Commission on the Arts Fellowship in 1986 ("Morgan Receives"). This novel is about an American's experiences in a village in the Amazon jungle with a mythical atmosphere. Morgan's own experiences during his residence in South America and Ecuador greatly influenced the book. Many personal experiences are included in the plot ("Tomb"). Critics loved this book, and the Washington Post called it "'...a deeply felt and provocative inquiry into the nature of life and death, and of the peculiar creatures who must finally deal with both'" (qtd. in "Class").
Morgan also wrote two books of essays on Idaho. The first, Boise: The City and the People, was coauthored with photographer Steve Bly and was published in 1993. This effort is a scrapbook and collection of essays about the Boise area ("Morgan Receives"). He also coauthored Idaho UnBound with Steve Mitchell in 1995. This book is a combination travel guide and collection of essays on Idaho ("Class"). Idaho UnBound was highly praised by the critics. The Boulder News of Colorado called it "'...The best book on Idaho since Vardis Fisher's classic over fifty years ago, and quite possibly the best travel guide ever written'" (qtd. in "Class"). Other unpublished works include his MFA thesis, a novel entitled The Last Big Jumping Off and a teaching text titled The Word's Business in the World ("Biographical" 1).
The national acclaim of Clay Morgan has greatly enhanced the literary tradition of Idaho. His unique writings have added spice and diversity to Idaho's literary arena. Besides being a talented writer, Mr. Morgan has a gracious and modest character. Idaho is proud to call him her own.
IV. Works Cited
Astronaut Bio: Barbara Morgan. June 2000. NASA. 09 April 2001.
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/morgan.htmlMorgan,Clay and Steve Mitchell. Idaho UnBound. Ketchum, ID: West Bound Books, 1995.
Morgan, Clay. "Biographical Questionnaire for Idaho Authors." Idaho Writers' Archive. 15 Dec 1985. "Class Paper." Email to Angie Russell. 16 Apr 2001.
"Re: Class Paper." Email to Angie Russell. 18 Apr 2001. "The Tomb of the Unknown Essayist." BSU Reader's and Writer's Rendezvous. McCall, ID. Oct 1997.
"Morgan Receives Literary Award." Times News [Twin Falls]. 10 Dec 1993. n.p. "Morgan to be Given Award for the Arts." Star News [McCall]. 19 Sept 1996. n.p.
"Wife's Job as Astronaut Offers Writer a New Scene." Idaho Statesmen [Boise]. n.d. n.p. V. Additional Resources
Rev. of Santiago and the Drinking Party, by Clay Morgan. Publisher's Weekly. 25 May 1992: 36. Stavans, Ilan. "In Short." Rev. of Santiago and the Drinking Party, by Clay Morgan.
Library Journal. 15 June 1992: 102. "Morgan to be Given Award for the Arts." Star News [McCall]. 19 Sept 1996. n.p.
Wilhelm, Albert E. Rev. of Santiago and the Drinking Party, by Clay Morgan. Library Journal. 15 June 1992: 102. Winter Reading Dialogue. Videocassette. Idaho Public Television, 1995.
This essay was submitted by a student of Joanne Davis, an English teacher at Emmett High School in Idaho.