Bart Yates Bio

Bart Yates | Bio

The youngest of three brothers, Bart Yates was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1962, to Newell and Lois Yates. In 1969 his family moved to Lamoni, Iowa, where his father was the Dean of Students at Graceland College and his mother taught business courses, also at Graceland. Bart graduated from Lamoni High School in 1981, Drake University in 1985 (with a Bachelor of Music degree in Clarinet Performance), and Boston University in 1988 (with a Master of Music degree in Woodwind Performance).

Following a brief stint as bursar at The Boston Conservatory, Bart began teaching private music lessons in Massachusetts in 1989, and then moved to Iowa City, Iowa, in 1999. A novel-writing class taught by Gordon Mennenga at the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival was the catalyst for Bart’s first novel (Leave Myself Behind), which was published in 2003. Leave Myself Behind won an Alex Award from the American Library Association in 2004. His second novel, The Brothers Bishop, was published in 2006, and his third, The Distance Between Us, in 2009.

Bart still teaches clarinet, saxophone, and bass guitar lessons in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, and for the past two summers he has also taught writing workshops at the University of Iowa’s Summer Writing Festival. When not writing or teaching, Bart plays in the jazz duo, “Nica’s Dream,” with bassist Rob Shannon.

Bart is currently working on his fourth novel.