From the Writer’s Almanac for Monday, February 3, 2020:
It’s the birthday of the writer Richard Yates, (books by this author) born in Yonkers, New York (1926). When he was in his 30s, he published his debut novel, Revolutionary Road, and it was a finalist for a National Book Award. He continued to write and got great reviews, but he never sold more than 12,000 copies of a hardcover book. He spent his life struggling to pay his bills, and he considered himself a failure. He was an alcoholic, smoked constantly, and he had such bad emphysema that toward the end of his life he used an oxygen tank. When he died in 1992, most of his books were out of print, but he was still writing—working on a novel based on his experience as a speechwriter for Bobby Kennedy.
But now his books are back in print and they are doing well.
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