Maxim Loskutoff

Inaugural Artist in Residence, Spring 2018

Maxim Loskutoff is a writer from Montana whose work is steeped in the American West and its beautiful, often tumultuous scenery.

While at Oak Spring, Loskutoff completed the first draft of his novel Ruthie Fear, a haunting parable of the American West set in remote Montana, which was released in September 2020.

“As a child in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, Ruthie Fear sees an apparition: a strange, headless creature near a canyon creek. Its presence haunts her throughout her youth. Raised in a trailer by her stubborn, bowhunting father, Ruthie develops a powerful connection with the natural world but struggles to find her place in a society shaped by men. Development, gun violence, and her father’s vendettas threaten her mountain home. As she comes of age, her small community begins to fracture in the face of class tension and encroaching natural disaster, and the creature she saw long ago reappears as a portent of the valley’s final reckoning.”

Read more about Maxim Loskutoff and his work here.