William Kittredge will read from his book Thursday

William Kittredge grew up among the sage brush of Oregon's high desert. His grandfather owned ranch land around Oregon, much of it sprawled across Lake County, and Kittredge grew up working on the family land, seemingly destined for the same life his father and grandfather had experienced.

In the early 1950s, Kittredge followed his father's footsteps and found himself at Oregon State University, pursuing a degree in agriculture. But halfway through his time at OSU, Kittredge said, he discovered literature. It changed his life, although it would be years before he'd pursue his new dream.

Now, at age 75, he's returning to OSU this week as an award-winning novelist and short story writer, and he'll share some of the things he's learned on his journey with OSU students and staff and the community.

One of the professors who inspired Kittredge at OSU was Bernard Malamud, a writer who went on to win a Pulitzer Prize for his work.

"He didn't like me and I didn't like him," Kittredge recalled, noting that Malamud often tried to get him to use writing techniques that he rejected.

"I was 21 and too full of myself," Kittredge said. But despite the animosity, "he got me hooked" on writing, Kittredge said. Years later when he was a teacher himself, Kittredge often found himself giving students the same kind of advice Malamud had given him.

Professor Herbert Childs was another inspiration. He introduced Kittredge to such authors as Emerson, Whitman and Milton. Suddenly, agriculture didn't seem so interesting.

"I became a very bookish boy," he said.

In fact, in 1952 he won the OSU library's student book collection contest. By 1953, when he graduated with a degree in agriculture, Kittredge knew he wanted to be a writer one day. He went back to the ranch a changed man.

"They thought I was nuts," Kittredge laughed. He returned to ranch work, but kept writing on his own. His father had once wanted to be a lawyer, but Kittredge's grandfather had talked him out of that dream. So in his mid-30s, when Kittredge decided to sell off the family property and pursue his writing dreams, he gained his father's support.

"He said, 'I've done things I've hated all my life and I wouldn't recommend that,'" Kittredge said.

Kittredge went on to get an MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and began teaching at the University of Montana, where he remained until retirement in 1997. He wrote throughout his academic career and continues to write today.

Last year, his first full-length novel, "The Willow Field," received strong reviews. His current project is a book of family history, so he returns to Oregon frequently to interview older family members and friends.

Kittredge said he'd recommend that aspiring young writers take a break between undergraduate and graduate school to gain more life experience, and spend time seriously considering graduate schools before making a decision.

He also suggests something else.

"Read, read, read," he said. "Read like a writer. Type out a few pages of something you like and see how it looks on your own machine."