About
Born in Alaska in 1952, Robert Temple grew up a military brat across the United States. After a three-year hitch in the 82nd Airborne, he received a B.S. in journalism from the University of Florida and an M.A. in English from Florida State University and then taught creative writing, composition, and literature at several Florida colleges. While teaching, he and his wife also raised and bred Suri alpacas for eighteen years. Throughout his teaching career, Robert kept writing, publishing the novel The Strange Courtship of Kathleen O’Dwyer and numerous short stories, winning several awards for fiction. Today, he and his wife, Sheila, reside in Talking Rock, Georgia in the Appalachian Mountains.
Featured Work
The Strange Courtship of Kathleen O'Dwyer
What would drive a woman in 1828 to head west across the Great Plains into the Rocky Mountains, risking death among hostile Native Americans, brutish mountain men, and wild animals? Why the same reason as a man, of course—freedom. Like fur trappers of the early western frontier, Kathleen is a misfit. Growing up in the Irish slums of Boston and watching her mother die giving birth to a dozen children, Kathleen has decided to escape into a career as a schoolteacher, free of men; but when she sets out along the Santa Fe Trail for distant Nuevo Mexico, she finds that dry powder and steady aim are as important as reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Other Works
Awards and Recognition
- William Faulkner Literary Competition Awards 2024, Short Story First Place "Philippe Richoux"
- SouthWest Writers 2024 Writing Contest, 1st Place Short Story General, "The Wolf Gray War Bonnet"
- 1994 Florida State Writing Competition, 1st Place - Novel Chapters, "The Atrocity" from _NCOs_, Florida Freelance Writers Association
- 1991 Florida State Writing Competition, 1st Place Adult Short Stories - Literary, "Up the Hill and Down the Hill and Back Again," Florida Freelance Writers Association
