This web page, maintained by the Nebraska Center for Writers at Creighton University, is an important resource when you are performing research on Hansen. Included here are a bibliography, comments, and criticism on his work, a writer's profile, a selection from his Mariette in Ecstacy, and an interview with the novelist.

Puzzling Out the Graced Occasions: An Interview with Ron Hansen
http://www.leaderu.com/marshill/mhr06/hansen1.html

Click here and you'll find a lengthy and informative interview of the writer given to Scott Hansen of the Mars Hill Review. In this interview, Hansen reveals some of his literary secrets; he discusses his confrontational style, and delves into how and why he writes-from his earlier western novels to the more recent and strangely different Atticus.

ReadingGroupGuides.com: Atticus by Ron Hansen
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides/atticus-author.html

Click here to view an excellent biography of the writer, from birth through his literary career, highlighting his love of his craft. Also included is a brief overview of the author's more important works. This is a great resource.

BIOGRAPHY
Ron Hansen (b. 1947) was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He received a B.A. in English from Creighton University, and then spent two years as a lieutenant in the army during the Vietnam War. After leaving the army, Hansen earned his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa, where he was taught by John Irving and John Cheever. Hansen wrote two unpublished novels, and reasoned that working within a genre might help him get published. The genre Hansen chose was westerns, and in 1979 he published his first novel, Desperados. Critics praised Hansen's ability to work under the restrictions of genre while primarily writing quality fiction. Hansen has published five other novels, a collection of short stories, and edited two short story anthologies. Among his many honors are a Guggenheim Foundation grant, an Award in Literature from the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters, two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and a three-year fellowship from the Lyndhurst Foundation. He currently teaches English at the University of Santa Clara in California.