An introduction to Robert Waller, one of our Cedar Falls Authors Festival authors

1. ROBERT JAMES
WALLER
An Introduction by Cherie Dargan,
Webmaster for www.cfauthorsfestival.org

2. Robert James Waller
• Robert James Waller
August 1, 1939-March
10, 2017
• Studied at UNI
• Later, he taught
courses in
management &
economics
• Became a Dean

3. Life in Cedar Falls
• Writer, poet, musician
& photographer
• Busy Academic
• Married first wife
• Played in a band
• His house, 3011
Winter Ridge Road

4. Break out novel, Bridges

5. The story BEHIND the book
• Waller told The Des Moines Register in 1992 that
“Bridges” was “written” in his mind as he drove from Des
Moines to Cedar Falls after photographing the covered
bridges in Madison County.
• http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/books/robert-
james-waller-author-of-the-bridges-of-madison-county-
has-died-at-77-1.13243062

6. Bestselling book to movie
• The Associated Press reports that Waller famously
wrote Bridges in just 11 days. The novel, about a
photographer who falls in love with a war bride in Italy,
also became a successful Clint Eastwood movie that
made $182 million in 1995. The book was first published
in 1992.
• The novel is one of the bestselling books of the 20th
century, with 50 million copies sold worldwide.
• It has also been adapted into a feature film in 1995 and
a musical in 2013.
• Waller also recorded an album of music--called The
Ballads of Madison County in 1993.

7. Move to Texas, Mid 90s
• Waller and his first wife
moved to West Texas
where they bought a
1,200 acre ranch
named Firelight.
• It is not far from Alpine,
a small town of around
6,000

8. Wonderful article w 5 videos
• https://tinyurl.com/lxx6l2t
• Five Fast Facts from
Heavy.com
• After his death in March,
many articles praised his
writing.
• Embeds 5 Videos, which
consist of several interviews,
and making of the album
following up to the movie.
• Also includes quotes from
our own Rosemary Beach &
Scott Cawelti.

9. Waller with CF Folks!
Waller with Rosemary & Bob
Beach, 2007
Waller with Scott C. & Gary K.,
2011

10. More Pictures

11. Works by Robert James Waller
• Novels
• The Bridges of Madison County (1992)
• Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend (1993)
• Puerto Vallarta Squeeze (1995)
• Border Music (1995)
• A Thousand Country Roads: An Epilogue to The Bridges
of Madison County (2002)
• High Plains Tango (2005)
• The Long Night of Winchell Dear (2007)

12. Works by Robert James Waller, cont.
• Collections
• Just Beyond the Firelight (1988)
• Non-fiction
• One Good Road is Enough (1990)
• Iowa: Perspectives on Today and Tomorrow (1991)
• Old Songs in a New Café (1994)
• Images (1994)
• The Summer Nights Never End...Until They Do: Life,
Liberty, and the Lure of the Short-Run (2012)
• Music
• The Ballads of Madison County: A Collection of Songs