Education
Gates obtained his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Connecticut in 1972.
Gates obtained his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Connecticut in 1972.
This was followed by a second novel, Preston Falls (1998), and two short story collections, The Wonders of the Invisible World (1999) and A Hand Reached Down to Guide Maine (2015). He has published short stories in" The New Yorker", "Tin House", "Newsweek", "The New York Times Book Review", Bookforum, "Rolling Stone", H.O.W, "The Oxford American", The Journal of Country Music, Esquire magazine, Ploughshares, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, Grand Street, TriQuarterly, and The Paris Review. Gates is also a Guggenheim Fellow.
Until 2008, he was a senior writer and editor in the Arts section at Newsweek magazine, specializing in articles on books and music
He teaches in the graduate writing program at The University of Montana as well as at the Bennington Writing Seminars.
Here he is a member of the Dog House Band, performing on the guitar, pedal steel, and vocals.