Anglers Journal

A Conversation with Thomas McGuane

Since publishing his first novel in the late 1960s, Thomas McGuane has gone on to create a large body of work — novels, screenplays, short fiction and essays — beloved by sportsmen and literary critics alike. McGuane is the only individual to be an inductee into the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame, the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. While novels such as Ninety-Two in the Shade and Nobody’s Angel established him as a true literary talent, McGuane’s most recent book, Cloudbursts, cements his legacy as one of the foremost practitioners of the short-story form.

We caught up with the longtime resident of southwest Montana at his winter residence in Florida. He was kind enough to take a break from tarpon fishing to talk with us about, among other things, the good old days in Key West, the changes he sees coming to Montana and his long friendship with Jim Harrison, who died in March 2016.

Anglers Journal This past March you published your latest book, According to my count, this is your 17th. As a prolific writer with a well-documented love for the outdoors, do you ever feel as if you should have gone fishing, or hunting, or riding more, and written less?

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