Dow Mossman

Dow Mossman, born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is an American writer.

Mossman studied at Coe College for two years, finished college at the University of Iowa and received his M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1969. His novel, The Stones of Summer, was published by Bobbs-Merrill and Popular Library in 1972. Following the publication of The Stones of Summer, Dow was mentally exhausted and spent several months in an Iowa sanitorium. The novel soon went out of print.

Mossman occasionally plays snooker at a local taproom and never misses a sale at the Cedar Rapids Library, which has provided him with reading treasures such as several years of bound Century Magazines from the 1890s, and an 1867 translation of Don Quixote which he feels captures Cervantes better than any other. Mossman is an avid Chicago Cubs fan and rides a motorcycle.

Stone Reader

In 2002, Mossman was the subject of a documentary film by Mark Moskowitz, Stone Reader, which chronicled the director's attempt to resuscitate the acclaimed book and speak to its seemingly-vanished author.

The film shows Mossman currently living in the family home, which is filled with books. According to the film, Mossman writes on the porch, and is currently working on a book based on notes he has taken from hundreds of old movies. Mossman lists the memoirs of Casanova as his favorite literary work. As a child, Dow read the Bible, and the complete novels of Arthur Conan Doyle. He describes his reading as pretty "a-list."

Prior to Stone Reader, Dow had been employed for 19 years as welder. He subsequently quit to look after his aging mother, who later died, after which he returned to work as a paper bundler for the local newspaper. After the film's release, The Stones of Summer was re-published. He is now semi-retired.

External Sources

The Observer (2003, Aug. 3). On the trail of a lost genius. [Review, "The Stone Reader"].