Walter is the author of seven novels, one book of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been selected three times for Best American Short Stories as well as the Pushcart Prize and Best American Nonrequired Reading. He’s been published in, Harper's, Esquire, McSweeney's, Tin House, Ploughshares, the New York Times, the Washington Post and many others.
He began his writing career in 1987 as a reporter for his hometown newspaper, The Spokesman-Review where he was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize as part of a team covering the shootout and standoff at Ruby Ridge, in Northern Idaho. Eventually he wrote about this in his first book, Every Knee Shall Bow, in 1995. He has also worked as a screenwriter and has taught graduate creative writing at the University of Iowa, Pacific University, Eastern Washington and Pacific Lutheran.
Walter has twice won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award (for The Zero and We Live in Water), the Washington State Book Award (The Cold Millions) and was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize (The Zero) and the PEN/USA Award in both fiction (The Zero) and nonfiction (Every Knee Shall Bow). His novel Beautiful Ruins was a #1 New York Times bestseller and spent more than a year on the bestseller list. It was also Esquire's Book of the Year and NPR Fresh Air's Novel of the Year. The Financial Lives of the Poets was Time Magazine's#2 novel of the year and Walter's story collection, We Live in Water, was longlisted for the Story Prize and the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. Walter's latest novel is the national bestseller, The Cold Millions, A BOOK OF HISTROICAL FICTION “Featuring an unforgettable cast of cops and tramps, suffragists and socialists, madams and murderers, The Cold Millions is a tour de force from a “writer who has planted himself firmly in the first rank of American authors” (Boston Globe).
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The Best Fiction of 2023 So Far (with Sam Sacks)
Tess Gunty on Narrative Voice, Her Writing Process, and the Books That Most Inspire Her
Tyler Dunne on the state of the NFL and good sports books
Scott Avett on His Favorite Books, Truth in Art, and the Notion of the Contemplative Life
The Best Fiction of 2022 So Far (with Sam Sacks)
Audio Book Narrator Edoardo Ballerini
Alissa Wilkinson Talks Great Food Writing (and more)
Chris Beha Shares the Books He Loves
David McCloskey Shares His Favorite Spy Novels
Historian Megan Kate Nelson Shares Her Favorite Books of History (and more)
Austin Kleon Spreads Some Book Love
William Kent Krueger shares his most beloved books
Michelle Nijhuis
Josh Ritter On Books He Loves and the Differences Between Songwriting and Novel Writing
James Lee Burke
Kate Baer
Wiley Cash
Alexandra Andrews
Ron Rash
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
50 Tastes Of Gray
Dear Alice | Interior Design
Spider-Man Crawlspace Podcast
The Art of War
Pride and Prejudice
Fresh Air
The Magnus Archives