{{Short description|American writer (1928–2025)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox writer | name = John Bowers | birth_name = John William Bowers | birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|3|12}} | birth_place = Lenoir City, Tennessee, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|8|17|1928|3|12}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | occupation = Writer | alma_mater = Science Hill High School<br>University of Tennessee | period = {{Circa|1960s–2000s}} }}
'''John William Bowers''' (March 12, 1928 – August 17, 2025) was an American writer.
==Life and career== Bowers was born in Lenoir City, Tennessee on March 12, 1928.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stokely |first=Jim |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/An_Encyclopedia_of_East_Tennessee/BOkTAAAAYAAJ |title=An Encyclopedia of East Tennessee |last2=Johnson |first2=Jeff D. |date=1981 |publisher=Children's Museum of Oak Ridge |isbn=978-0-9606832-0-8 |page=59 |lccn=81-068545 |oclc=1409547436}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Contemporary_Authors/7NnvGcOx7CkC |title=Contemporary Authors: A Bio-bibliographical Guide to Current Authors and Their Works |date=November 1978 |publisher=Gale Research |isbn=978-0-8103-0038-5 |editor-last=Evory |editor-first=Ann |series=Contemporary Authors |volume=33–36 |page=124}}</ref> He was raised in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the Great Depression and World War II era. He graduated from Science Hill High School in 1946 and from the University of Tennessee in 1951. From there, he attended the Handy Writers' Colony in Marshall, Illinois, founded by Lowney Turner Handy and her husband, Harry Handy, along with her student, the best-selling novelist James Jones. An autobiographical account of this adventure is Bowers's first major book, the memoir ''The Colony'', published in 1971.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Colony; By John Bowers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/25/archives/the-colony-by-john-bowers-235-pp-new-york-e-p-dutton-co-695.html |work=The New York Times |date=July 25, 1971 |accessdate=November 9, 2010 }}</ref>
During the 1960s, Bowers published numerous interviews and articles in major magazines, including ''The New York Times'', ''Playboy'', ''Sports Illustrated'', ''New York'', ''Cosmopolitan'', and ''Harper's'', some of which were collected in paperback under the title ''The Golden Bowers'' in the early 1970s. His first novel, ''No More Reunions'' (1973),<ref>{{cite news |title=New & Novel; No More Reunions |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/01/archives/new-novel-no-more-reunionss.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 1, 1973 |accessdate=November 9, 2010 }}</ref> about his teen years in Johnson City, was optioned for film but the movie was never made. A second novel of that period, ''Helene'' (1976), is a ''Lolita''-like tale set in 1950s America with college-age males and a young teenage girl.
''In the Land of Nyx: Night and Its Inhabitants'' (1984),<ref>{{cite news |title=Books of the Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9407EEDD1E39F93BA15750C0A962948260 |work=The New York Times |date=March 28, 1984 |accessdate=November 9, 2010 }}</ref> Bowers' next novel, was a study of the subculture of people who live their lives at night rather than during the daylight. Probably inspired by his father, who was night manager at the local railroad station during his childhood, this book is difficult to classify in any standard genre, and languished somewhat after its release because bookstores and libraries did not know quite what to do with it.
Turning his attention to historical examination of the Civil War, Bowers wrote ''Stonewall Jackson: Portrait of a Soldier'' (1990)<ref>{{cite news |title=Conforted by Slaughter and by Prayer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/10/books/conforted-by-slaughter-and-by-prayer.html |work=The New York Times |date=September 10, 1989 |accessdate=November 9, 2010 }}</ref> and ''Chickamauga and Chattanooga: The Battles That Doomed the Confederacy'' (2000),<ref>{{cite news |title=Two Battles Paved Way for Union |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/timesdispatch/access/613848921.html?dids=613848921:613848921&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+16%2C+1994&author=Reviewed+by+BEVIN+ALEXANDER&pub=Richmond+Times+-+Dispatch&desc=TWO+BATTLES+PAVED+WAY+FOR+UNION&pqatl=google |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |date=October 16, 1994 |accessdate=November 9, 2010 }}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> which mix fact, fiction, and anecdotes.
For over two decades he was an associate professor in the Writing Program at Columbia University. His play ''Remembrance of Things Present'' has been produced twice off-Broadway.<ref name=":0" />
Bowers died in New York City on August 17, 2025, at the age of 97.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=August 24, 2025 |title=JOHN BOWERS Obituary (2025) |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/john-bowers-obituary?id=59269182 |access-date=September 4, 2025 |website=The New York Times |publisher=Legacy.com |publication-place=New York City, New York}}</ref>
==Selected publications== *''The Colony'' (1971) *''The Golden Bowers'' (1971) *''No More Reunions'' (1973) *''Helene'' (1976) *''In the Land of Nyx: Night and Its Inhabitants'' (1984) *''Stonewall Jackson: Portrait of a Soldier'' (1990) *''Chickamauga and Chattanooga: The Battles That Doomed the Confederacy'' (2000) *''Remembrance of Things Present''
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowers, John}} Category:1928 births Category:2025 deaths Category:American male biographers Category:21st-century American historians Category:21st-century American male writers Category:Columbia University faculty Category:20th-century American novelists Category:20th-century American male writers Category:American historical novelists Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American biographers Category:American male novelists Category:American male dramatists and playwrights Category:Novelists from New York (state) Category:People from Lenoir City, Tennessee Category:People from Johnson City, Tennessee Category:University of Tennessee alumni Category:Dramatists and playwrights from Tennessee