Guterson, David (1956- )

US author. He is perhaps best known for Snow Falling on Cedars (1995) which won the PEN/Faulkner award (and was filmed in 1999). Other books include The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind (1989), a collection of short stories; Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense (1993), based on the experience of home-schooling his four children; and novels East of the Mountains (1999) and Our Lady of the Forest (2003).

Guterson received his MA from the University of Washington. He taught English at a high school in Puget Sound, where he took up journalistic writing for Sports Illustrated and Harper's Magazine. He holds the view that literature serves a moral function and that writers have an obligation to present moral questions for their readers to reflect upon.