For the past four decades, David Kranes has been one of the most influential and sustained forces for writing and fostering writers in Utah. Throughout his career he has been a prolific writer, producing stories, plays, novels, screenplays, and lectures. His plays have been performed in New York and across the United States at notable regional theaters. He is the author of 50 plays and seven novels. His fiction works include: Margins (1972); Criminals (1981); The Hunting Years (1984); Keno Runner (1989); Low Tide in the Desert (1996); and The National Tree (2001). His latest novel, Making the Ghost Dance, was published this year by Signature Books.
Kranes, emeritus professor of English at the University of Utah, came to the U in 1967 after graduating from Yale Drama School. For fourteen years he served as the artistic director of the Sundance Institute's Playwrights Lab-a developmental laboratory that sent over 30 plays to New York and other regional theaters. During his teaching career, Kranes received every teaching award offered by the University of Utah including the prestigious University Professor Award and the Ramona Cannon Teaching Award.
