American novelist and short story writer Richard Russo

By Randy Cohen

Published December 27, 2024 at 10:30 PM EST

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Susan Packard

A friend of author Richard Russo’s wife gave his novel “Empire Falls” to Ivanka Trump. Her response: “This is a book about poor people. Why would I want to read a book about poor people?” Russo tells us about his father, Martha’s Vineyard and green pens.

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