Alan Kent Haruf (, rhymes with sheriff; February 24, 1943 – November 30, 2014) was an American writer born and raised in the US state of Colorado. He wrote six novels and several short stories set on the High Plains, mostly in the fictional town of Holt. After completing his undergraduate degree in English at Nebraska Wesleyan, Haruf enrolled in the Peace Corps and performed work in lieu of military service before receiving a master's degree from the University of Iowa. He initially struggled to establish a career as a writer; in addition to stints as a janitor, construction worker and farmhand, Haruf spent years teaching English at a high school in Wisconsin and at universities in Nebraska and Illinois. His writing was first published in 1984 when he was 41.
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