Tad Richards

Who is Tad Richards?

James Richards is an American writer and visual artist. He is also artistic director and former president of Opus 40, the sculpture park in Saugerties, New York.

Richards was born in Washington, D.C. in 1940. In 1943, his mother married the sculptor Harvey Fite, creator of Opus 40. He attended Bard College and earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he studied with Paul Engle, Donald Justice and Philip Roth. He has taught at Winona State University, the State University of New York at New Paltz and Marist College.

Richards began publishing in 1964, with three poems in Poetry Magazine. During the 1960s, he was a regular contributor to The Realist, Paul Krassner's satirical magazine.

His first novel, Cherokee Bill, was published by Dell Books in 1974. Since then, he has published 18 novels, including a novelization of the Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles. His most recent novel is Nick and Jake. Nick and Jake has also been produced as an audio play starring Alan Arkin, Tom Conti and Ali MacGraw.

Richards has written 16 works of nonfiction. Struggle and Lose, Struggle and Win: The Story of the United Mine Workers was listed by The New York Times as one of the best young adult books of 1977. Several of his books on finance with Neale Godfrey have been bestsellers. He has also written extensively on music and poetry.