Author Larry Baker at SAU

by: natalie smith
Staff Writer

On Nov. 2, author Larry Baker spoke at St. Ambrose University. Baker is the author of the two non- fictional books – The Flamingo Rising, and Athens America.

His first book, The Flamingo Rising, was completed in 1997 and much of the inspiration for it came from the unique experiences he had while managing drive-in movie theatres. The Flamingo Rising is set in Florida and is a heartwarming and funny novel about a young boy who is growing up in the 1960s.

 In an excerpt of a review from the New Yorker, Harry Louis Jr. states, “Larry Baker is writing for grown-ups, but he remembers how it felt not to be one, and renders the experience in unforced, unshowy prose, neither folksy nor formal. The result is a novel that's both modest and surprisingly seductive.”

James O’ Gorman, a reference librarian, at St. Ambrose, says that he enjoyed reading both of Baker’s books but The Flamingo Rising would most likely appeal to more people.

Athens America is set in Iowa City and is about a police mistake that shatters a once peaceful college town. Throughout the story two men are concurrently trying to get past the tragedy of losing their children. Even though it is a fiction book, there are many facts behind it. It is based around politics yet at the same time it is also a touching story about love.

Currently, Baker is working on a novel about a thirty-eight year old widowed teacher, which at the moment is titled The Education of Nancy Flynn.

He has a degree in English from the University of Oklahoma and a doctorate from the University of Iowa. To pay his way through college, he managed local movie theatres. He has held a wide array of job positions throughout his life such as hotel desk clerk, house detective, former zoning commission member, pizza restaurant manager, sports writer, Waldenbooks part time employee, college teacher, and Iowa City council member. Presently, he resides with his wife and two kids in Iowa City.