Friends of the University Libraries

Silver Pen Award Recipient 2001
Steven Nightingale

Steven Nightingale, novelist and poet, is a native Nevada, born in Reno. He is a graduate of Reno High School and Stanford University (B.A.). He has two novels to his credit, published by St. Martin’s Press: The Lost Coast and The Thirteenth Daughter of the Moon.  Cartwheels, a book of sonnets, was published by the Black Rock Press in Spring 2002.

Nightingale's interest in writing was awakened by a special teacher, Margaret Muth, a legendary English teacher at Reno High School. "She taught a whole generation of us how to read and love big, difficult novels," said Nightingale. "She’d give us books way over our heads and make sure that we paid the closest attention. She made a difference in the lives of thousands of us and I’ll always be indebted to her."

In college at Stanford University, Nightingale studied computer science and literature. He connected with such greats as Plato, Homer, Camus, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Pablo Neruda and Emily Dickinson, two of his favorite poets. And he began to write.

"Initially, I wrote sonnets," said Nightingale, adding with a laugh, "one every day and four on Saturdays."

It’s a form he still enjoys. "My subjects? Everything. The desert, paintings, casinos, coyotes. You name it, I am willing to write about it," he said.

Interested in exploring many literary genres, he finds the best time to write is in the morning. With a 5-month-old daughter, that often means before dawn. "She is part of the early morning," said Nightingale. "She’s a joy and so far (the routine) is working out."

— Sandra Macias (Friends Newsletter, Fall 2001)

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Updated June 12, 2008