About the Author

Sam Shepard was the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of more than fifty-five plays and three story collections. As an actor, he appeared in more than sixty films, and received an Oscar nomination in 1984 for The Right Stuff. He was a finalist for the W. H. Smith Literary Award for his story collection Great Dream of Heaven. In 2012 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Trinity College, Dublin. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, received the Gold Medal for Drama from the Academy, and was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. He died in 2017.

Reviews

“Extraordinary by any measure. . . . With this collection [Shepard] becomes a storyteller in the purest sense.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Devastatingly artful. . . . Brutal and satisfying. . . . In their careful craft and mysterious revelations, the best stories in Great Dream of Heaven recall . . . Chekhov.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Strong emotions . . . make a Sam Shepard story as familiar as an old leather saddle. . . . Shepard’s terse, lyrical style excels. . . . There’s something broadly American . . . about the frustrations his characters feel.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Shocking. . . . Often funny. . . . Shepard’s writing is consistently excellent.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“His playwriting skills . . . make his fiction shimmer with a brutal clarity.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Extraordinary by any measure. . . . With this collection [Shepard] becomes a storyteller in the purest sense." -The New York Times Book Review

"Devastatingly artful. . . . Brutal and satisfying. . . . In their careful craft and mysterious revelations, the best stories in Great Dream of Heaven recall . . . Chekhov." -Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Strong emotions . . . make a Sam Shepard story as familiar as an old leather saddle. . . . Shepard's terse, lyrical style excels. . . . There's something broadly American . . . about the frustrations his characters feel." -San Francisco Chronicle

"Shocking. . . . Often funny. . . . Shepard's writing is consistently excellent." -Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"His playwriting skills . . . make his fiction shimmer with a brutal clarity." -Los Angeles Times Book Review