Bozeman Magazine

Henry Hughes grew up on Long Island, New York, and has lived in Oregon since 2002.   He is the author of four collections of poetry, including the Oregon Book Award -winning, Men Holding Eggs. His memoir,Back Seat with Fish: a Man’s Adventures in Angling and Romance, was published in 2106 by Skyhorse.  An active angler, naturalist, and literary critic, he edited the Everyman’s Library anthologies Art of Angling: Poems about Fishing and Fishing Stories. His essays and reviews appear regularly in the Flyfishing and Tying Journal and Harvard Review. He teaches at Western Oregon University.

Back Seat with Fish is unlike any memoir you've ever read. Traveling across East Asia--from Beijing to Bangkok--as well as throughout the United States, Hughes shares stories of the fish he's caught and the people he's met.Fishing is a sport that crosses boundaries of race, ethnicity, gender, and class. In his travels, Hughes learns lessons on  race and culture as he interacts with a wide variety of people who share his love for fishing and enjoy the sensual connection between the salty pleasures and tensions of human and fish life. Throughout the adventures in Back Seat with Fish are tales with carp and fugu, sharks and snakeheads, as well as exchanges with a variety of people, including a Sioux Indian from South Dakota, an elderly African American on the Mississippi, and waterside inhabitants of Beijing. But Hughes's journey isn't just for people who fish or love nature. Back Seat with Fish is for anyone who enjoys a good story.