Author Richard Thompson was born and raised in Austin.

After high school, he went to Macalester College in St. Paul to major in mathematics and studio art. During that time he was also a hobby musician, playing banjo and homemade, 12-string guitar in the coffee houses around the Twin Cities-area universities.

He ended up quitting college and joining the U.S. Coast Guard, eventually finding himself back in college on the GI Bill studying civil engineering.

The next twenty years he spent working for the city of St. Paul, as the senior building inspector and later as a design engineer.

Eventually he decided to start writing. He took classes and went to workshops and conferences and reading authors he wanted to emulate.

After much trial and error he created some popular novels, including “Frag Box,” “Fiddle Game,” and his latest novel “Big Wheat.”

Richard will be in Austin for the Austin ArtWorks Festival Aug. 25 and 26. For more information about Thompson visit readrichardathompson.com. For more information about the festival check out austinartworksfestival.org.