Bart Yates

  • AUTHOR
  • TEACHER
  • MUSICIAN
Bart Yates is the author of six novels, including The Language Of Love and Loss, Leave Myself Behind, The Brothers Bishop, and (writing as Noah Bly) The Third Hill North of Town. He is also a musician, and plays and teaches clarinet, saxophone, and bass guitar. He 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 his first novel (Leave Myself Behind). Bart still lives in Iowa City, with an extremely well-stocked refrigerator and the world’s best cat.
ABOUT ME
I was born in 1962, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In 1969 my family moved to Lamoni, Iowa, where my dad was the Dean of Students at Graceland College and my mom taught business courses. I 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).

” When I’m not writing or teaching, I usually can be found with a book in one hand and a glass of wine—or a cup of coffee—in the other.”

BLOG UPDATE

From my blog

BOOKS

Read My Books

One of the strengths of Yates’s writing is his ability to work out complicated plot points and weave together the threads of the story in a dramatically effective manner.

Bay Area Reporter

Review of Brothers Bishop

Brilliantly written and funny as hell.

EDGE BOSTON

Review of The Distance Between Us

Yates effectively captures the honest, sometimes silly, often tender interactions between his fragile characters.

BOOKLIST

Review of Leave Myself Behind

Imaginative and thought-provoking.

USA Today

Review of The Third Hill North of Town
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