Robin Cody

Robin Cody was born in St. Helens, Oregon. When he was five, his family moved to Estacada, Oregon when his father, Robert Edward Cody, was hired as the grade school principal there. The Codys remained in Estacada for nearly 50 years. Cody graduated from Yale University, taught in the American School of Paris, France, and was the Dean of Admissions for Reed College. In 1984 he became a writer with The Oregonian and one of his stories won the Western Writers of America’s Silver Spur Award for short non-fiction in 1986. Cody joined the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) as a freelance writer for a time.{{cite web|url=http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/cody_robin_1943_/|author=Davies, John|title=Robin Cody (1943)|publisher=The Oregon Encyclopedia}}, Retrieved 2013-05-30. It was during an assignment for the BPA that he was inspired to canoe the Columbia River from its source to its mouth. The 82-day trip gave birth to his book, Voyage of a Summer Sun, which won the Oregon Book Award in 1995.{{cite web|url=http://www.robincody.net/bios/bios2.html|title=Biography|publisher=Robin Cody}}, Retrieved 2013-05-30.{{cite news|url=http://www.newslincolncounty.com/?s=robin+cody&searchsubmit=|title=Oregon Legacy Series Continues at Driftwood Library|work=News Lincoln County |publisher=News Lincoln County}}, Retrieved 2013-5-30. He teaches seminars and workshops around Portland, Oregon mostly about nature writing.

Ricochet River, Cody's second book, was first published in 1992 by Blue Heron Publishing, with later editions published by Ooligan Press.{{Cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/135884|title=Editions of Ricochet River by Robin Cody}} It deals with the lives of three high school students in the fictional small town of Calamus, Oregon in the 1960s.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-10-bk-2189-story.html|author=Quick, Barbara|date=May 10, 1992|title=A Noble Throwback : RICOCHET RIVER By Robin Cody|work=Los Angeles Times}}, Retrieved 2013-5-30. The town in the book was based on Oregon.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}

The book has generated controversy because of what some considered to be "sexually explicit language" not appropriate for high school readers. Parents from Clackamas High School in Oregon attempted to have the book banned in the North Clackamas School District. After student and parent outcry against the banning, the school board voted to keep the book.[http://newexcellence.home.comcast.net/index.html New Excellence Website]Simon, Rachel [http://www.abffe.org/bbw-milwaukie.htm Ricochet River in the crosshairs], January 26, 2005 In response to the criticisms, Cody and publisher Ooligan Press released a new version of the book without the controversial paragraphs.[http://www.pdx.edu/news/5932/ News: Ooligan Press Issues New Edition of Portland Author Robin Cody’s Ricochet River]

Ricochet River was one of one hundred works chosen by the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission for "exemplifying Oregon’s rich literary heritage from the years 1800 to 2000".

Ricochet River was made into a 1998 film starring Kate Hudson which the author did not like.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120807/ IMDb page for Ricochet River]

1. Umbrella Guide to Bicycling the Oregon Coast (Friday Harbor, WA: Umbrella Books, 1990) {{ISBN|0-914143-25-5}}
2. Ricochet River (New York, NY: Knopf, 1992) {{ISBN|0-679-40431-7}}
3. Voyage of a Summer Sun (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf Incorporated, 1995) {{ISBN|0-679-41768-0}}
4. Another Way the River Has: Taut True Tales from the Northwest (Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-87071-583-9}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.writersontheedge.org/cody.html Biography] a Nye Beach Writer's Series Feature
• [http://www.robincody.net/books/books.html] Books by Robin Cody

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cody, Robin}}

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Writers from Oregon

Category:Yale University alumni

Category:People from St. Helens, Oregon

Category:People from Estacada, Oregon

Category:The Oregonian people