Author and Journalist

Rick Skwiot is the award-winning author of two novels set in Mexico and a critically praised childhood memoir. He has published numerous feature stories, short stories, essays and book reviews in magazines and newspapers. Rick has taught creative writing at Washington University in St. Louis and at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he served as the 2004 Distinguished Visiting Writer.

Published Works

Sleeping With Pancho Villa
Finalist for the Willa Cather Prize.

“A thoughtfully layered backdrop of Mexican culture…impressively crafted labyrinthine setting…Snappy and often funny dialogue.”–Publisher’s Weekly

“Life in a Mexican town…laid out beautifully …A skillfully written portrait of an entire community. Highly recommended.” –Library Journal

“This book alone heralds the arrival of a great new writer.” –The Colorado Springs Independent

                                          
Christmas at Long Lake: A Childhood Memory

“Skwiot’s vivid descriptions of the physical and emotional landscape…are poignant, entertaining, and instructional… There is magic in this depiction of a setting and a way of life that can be described only as Edenic.”–Library Journal

“Rick Skwiot works his own magic… As usual, Skwiot’s writing is sure…And his tale has a gritty, blue-collar cachet…This is good reading.” –Kansas City Star

Flesh
Hemingway First Novel Award Winner.

 The passionate mystery of a son’s compulsive search for his father’s bones—a quest that draws him into an exotic Mexican underworld of sex, mysticism, drugs, and sudden violence.

Sensual but gritty, vibrant but darkly poignant, Flesh exposes the simmering passions—fired by jealousy, vengeance, love, lust, and greed—when Anglo and Hispanic cultures clash.