Richard Uhlig

Native Kansan Richard Uhlig spoke at ESU Tuesday evening about his novels and screenplays.

Uhlig grew up in Herington, attended ESU for awhile and then went on to New York University to study film and television.

In August, he published “Last Dance at the Frosty Queen” which is set in the fictional town of Harker City, Kansas (which has many similarities to Herington.)

Uhlig gave much credit for his novel writing to retired ESU professor John Somer who was in the audience. “He opened my eyes to the printed word,” Uhlig said.

Richard Uhlig began his writing career with screenplays and had two turned into movies.

A trip to Lebanon, Kans. (the geographic center of the U.S.) gave the author the idea for one of his screenplays “Viva Las Nowhere.” He saw the abandoned motel there and wondered, “what sort of delusional dreamer would think that people would want to spend a night in the exact geographic center of the U.S.?”

So that motel became the setting for his screenplay. However, the production team decided to film in Canada. “It was cheaper to build a motel in Canada than to film in Smith County, Kansas,” he explained.

Uhlig had planned to direct that movie, but the directorship was bought out. The movie was renamed “Dead Simple.” We watched part of the film and I’d like to see the rest. He said it has a cult-like following in Greece. Another movie made from a screenplay of his is “Kept,” which is also out in video.

“Last Dance at the Frosty Queen” is a coming-of-age novel; the main character is an 18-year-old boy. He read the first two chapters of that book and I’d have bought it had there been any for sale at the reading; he says Town Crier has some in stock.

He lives in New York and does most of his writing at a place called The Writer’s Room. It’s a place with cubicles and no one is allowed to speak except in the break room. He doesn’t use a computer until his first draft is down on a legal pad.

His second novel, “Boy Minus Girl” is also set in the fictional Kansas town of Hawker City.

“I wanted to show how beautiful Kansas is,” he said. “I just wanted to show there’s a crumbling beauty here.”

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Writer friend Tracy and her Munchkin #1 went also; here are Tracy’s comments about meeting the author.