Guy Owen was born in Clarkton, North Carolina. He holds a B.A. (1947), an M.A. (1949), and a Ph.D. (1955) from the University of North Carolina. Owen has taught at Davidson College, Elon College, Stetson University, and he is currently professor of English at North Carolina State University. He has also been writer-in-residence at Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Owen has received a Bread Loaf Scholarship (1960), the Henry Bellamann Foundation Literary Award (1964), a Yaddo Fellowship (1968), the Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Cup in 1969 for The White Stallion, and the Sir Walter Raleigh Award in 1970 for his third novel, Journey for Joedel, which was also recommended for the Pulitzer Prize in 1971.

In his work as a novelist, poetry editor, and poet, Owen has remained consistently interested in the landscape and people of the South, particularly eastern North Carolina. His novels, Season of Fear (1960), The Ballad of...