Biography
Mick Cochrane was born and raised in St. Paul, MN. As a boy, he played a great deal of baseball and was a passionate fan of the Minnesota Twins. His early jobs included working for McDonald’s, mostly ineptly, and cutting grass and chalking fields for the West St. Paul Park and Recreation Department.
He graduated with an English major from the University of St. Thomas and earned a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Minnesota. While a graduate student, he published his first story, “The Lenny Green Story,” in Minnesota Monthly magazine. His first novel, Flesh Wounds, was published by Nan Talese/Doubleday and named a finalist in Barnes and Noble’s Discover Great New Writers Competition. His second novel, Sport, was published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s and selected for the annual New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age List. He’s also published two books for young readers: The Girl Who Threw Butterflies and Fitz, both with Knopf Books for Young Readers.
His short stories, essays, and poems have appeared in a number of literary magazines, including The Sun, The Cincinnati Review, Northwest Review, Kansas Quarterly, and Water~stone. He’s also published critical essays on Raymond Carver, Bob Dylan, baseball literature, and the art of biography, and he’s received grants from the Saltonstall Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Mick with Fr. Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries
Mick is professor emeritus of English at Canisius University in Buffalo, NY, where he taught literature and writing for many years. He founded and continues to coordinate the Canisius Contemporary Writers Series, which for 25 years has brought distinguished writers to Buffalo to share their work with members of the community. Past visitors have included George Saunders, Joy Harjo, Clint Smith, Lynda Barry, Colson Whitehead, Ann Patchett, Edwidge Danticat, Tracy K. Smith, Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, Joyce Carol Oates, Ha Jin, Alice McDermott, Tracy Kidder, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Colm Tóibín.
Links
Below you will find links to some of Mick's favorite real-life people, places, and things.