Arthur Plotnik

A native of White Plains, N. Y., Arthur Plotnik attended the State University of New York at Albany and earned his B.A. degree at Harpur College, State University of New York at Binghamton. He studied under Philip Roth and Vance Bourjaily in the Iowa Writers (Graduate) Workshop, earning a master's degree in English from the University of Iowa. After Iowa, he served on active duty with the U.S. Army Reserve at Ft. Dix and on weekly duty in the Albany, N.Y. area, earning the rank of sergeant. He became a staff writer and reviewer on the Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union, sharing the city desk with, among others, the author William Kennedy. He left newspaper reporting to write pulp fiction represented by the Scott-Meredith Literary Agency. After twenty-two pseudonymous "potboilers," he tired of the genre and, at, Columbia University, acquired a Master of Science in Library Service. (The "hack-writing" experience is described in his semi-autobiographical writing guide, The Elements of Authorship, formerly titled, Honk If You're a Writer.) Selected as a management intern at the Library of Congress In Washington, D. C., he completed training and served in the Librarian's Office as press and public relations assistant and newsletter editor.