Newly Released

Crossing the Yard: Thirty Years as a Prison Volunteer Winner of the 2007 Southwest Book of the Year. "Shelton over his years on the inside came to identify much more with his students, the outlaws, than with the often ignorant and arbitrary prison authorities. This stance, hard-won over decades of close contact with murderers and outcasts, is one of the truest and most illuminating aspects of his memoir."                                                                      —Tucson Weekly "The stories. . . are enticing observations about life, literature, incarceration, and the human condition, which make for a book that is hard to put down. Shelton writes with skill and candor about society's exiles and their hidden talents, which he was able to bring out in his workshops; his own talents as a writer give the book its power. Both eye-opening and enchanting, this volume would certainly be a worthwhile addition to any collection."                                     —Library Journal                                              starred review "In a spellbinding memoir chronicling the uncommon challenges and unexpected rewards of reaching out to some of society’s most complex and generally forgotten members, Shelton’s triumphant paean to the tenacity of the creative spirit celebrates the courage of hopeless men who bravely found a way to express their essential humanity. "                                                 —Booklist "Crossing the Yard is a quick, engrossing read, a series of well-strung anecdotes and glosses on the prison lifestyle that gradually builds to something larger. Shelton compares the diversity of his encounters in prison to the reach of a Dickensian novel, and as with Dickens this book's cast is a source of strength. One never knows who Shelton will meet next, and seemingly every individual exemplifies some aspect of life in prison."                                           —Scott Esposito                   The Quarterly Conversation

                        
       Going Back to 
             Bisbee
  Winner of the 1992 Western
            States Book Award 
  
"Shelton has a generous sense of humor, a clear vision of the world and, ultimately, wonderful stories to tell."

"Humor, poignancy, humaneness, word magic—these all make Going Back To Bisbee fit company with Dillard, Eiseley, Abbey, and Graves. . . . A beautiful book."
                                                                              —Journal of the West

"Shelton's literary touch is sure, and he seemingly achieves his effects—nostalgic, witty, inspirational—with little effort. A delightful companion piece to Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence.
                                                                                             —Kirkus Reviews

"He's a magician, hypnotizing his audience one moment with a tribute to coyotes, then waking them to a discussion of the Apache wars."
                                                                                                        —Booklist

"A powerful annal of place. . . . Shelton imbues landscapes, flora and fauna with resonance, imprinting themes of memory, history and human nature in the reader's mind."
                                                                                       —Publishers Weekly

"There's so much in this book to discover, so many evocative passages and entertaining side trips."
                                                                —Los Angeles Times Book Review

Read about Going Back to Bisbee on NPR.org
See the interview with Bill Buckmaster on Arizona Illustrated
       
  



                                                The Last Person to    
      Hear Your Voice


     "For over forty years Richard Shelton has been establishing himself as the unofficial poet laureate of the Arizona desert and in the process has become an extremely important voice of the American west in general."
            --Rob Woodard, Burning Shore Reviews

       Read the entire review here.

 

More Books:

The Tattooed Desert, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1971

Of All the Dirty Words, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1972

Calendar, Baleen Press, 1972

Among the Stones, Monument Press, 1973

You Can't Have Everything, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1975

The Bus to Veracruz, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1978

Selected Poems: 1969-1981, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982

Hohokam, SUN/Gemini Press, 1986

The Other Side of the Story, Confluence Press, 1987

Going Back to Bisbee, (nonfiction), University of Arizona Press, 1992

The Last Person to Hear Your Voice, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007

Crossing the Yard: Thirty Years as a Prison Volunteer, University of Arizona Press, 2007

 Chapbooks:   

 Journal of Return, Kayak Press, 1969

The Heroes of Our Times, Best Cellar Press, 1972

Chosen Place, Best Cellar Press, 1975

Desert Water, Monument Press, 1981

A Kind of Glory, Copper Canyon Press, 1982

Richard Shelton's Greatest Hits, Pudding House Press, 2003

 Documentary Films:

 Sonoran: The Hidden Desert, University of Arizona Film Bureau, 1980

Another Day, University of Arizona Film Bureau, 1981

The Sound of Water (script and direction), University of Arizona Film Bureau, 1982