About Newton Thornburg

Newton Kendall Thornburg Jr. (13 May 1929 – 9 May 2011) was an American novelist. He is most known for his 1976 novel Cutter and Bone, which was adapted into the 1981 film Cutter's Way.Thornburg was born in Harvey, Illinois to Newton Kendall Thornburg and Rhea Martha Mattox Thornburg. He was one of four children; he had an older brother, Robert, and two younger sisters, Margaret and Mary. His family was devoutly religious, but Thornburg soon became disenchanted with religion.

Thornburg enrolled at Illinois Wesleyan College in Bloomington, Illinois, where he had a five-page short story published in the Methodist Student Movement's magazine. Thornburg was more interested in painting, and transferred to the University of Iowa to study art. Thornburg graduated from the University of Iowa with a Fine Arts degree. Thornburg briefly enrolled in the Iowa Graduate Writers Workshop before dropping out. He worked in a variety of jobs before devoting himself to writing full-time (or at least in tandem with his cattle farm in the Ozarks) in 1973.