Richard Farina

• Born: March 8, 1937
• Birthplace: Brooklyn, NY
• Died: April 30, 1966

Richard Farina's only novel, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me, was published on August 28, 1966, just two days before he was killed in a motorcycle accident in Carmel, CA.

Raised in New York, Farina went to Cornell University, but dropped out during his senior year. While there, he began writing stories and poems for the literary magazine, Cornell Writer. Thomas Pynchon was a junior editor of the magazine, and the two became fast friends. Farina also wrote and acted in plays while at Cornell. When he left the university, he returned to New York, where he continued to write poetry, learned to play the dulcimer, and began to write and perform folk music.

Farina married folk singer Carolyn Hester in 1960; they were divorced in 1962, and in 1963, he married Mimi Baez, younger sister of Joan Baez. As "Mimi and Dick Farina," they appeared in clubs and at various folk festivals, Mimi playing the guitar, and Richard, the dulcimer. They also cut two albums before Richard's death.

Most Famous Works

• Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me (1966)