Willy Vlautin

Vlautin's third novel, Lean on Pete, is the story of a 15-year-old boy who works and lives on a rundown race track in Portland, Oregon, and befriends a failed race horse named Lean on Pete. The Sunday Herald stated, "Lean on Pete confirms his status as one of the most emotionally charged writers in America..." Eileen Battersby of the Irish Times stated “As one boy’s journey, Lean on Pete is as real as blood: as a novel it is remarkable. Willy Vlautin, romantic and realist, has written something special that will make you shudder, weep, rage and wonder at how such things happen and do, and how some individuals such as Charley can suffer them, absorb the grief, and somehow survive. How good is contemporary US fiction? This good: catch your breath good.” Cheryl Strayed of The Oregonian states "By the time ‘Lean on Pete’ reaches its sweet but unsentimental end, Charley Thompson isn’t a character in a novel, but a boy readers have come to love. ‘Lean on Pete’ riveted me. Reading it, I was heartbroken and moved; enthralled and convinced. This is serious American literature." Lean on Pete won two Oregon Book Awards: the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction and the Peoples Choice Award. A movie based on the book was released in 2017.

Richmond Fontaine was an alt.country and rock band that is consistently recognized for Vlautin's rich lyrics and diverse musical style. They recorded eleven studio albums and toured extensively in Europe, where they have a particularly strong following, as well as in Australia and the US. Richmond Fontaine split in 2016 and Vlautin is currently a member of The Delines.

Published in the US, as well as several European and Asian countries, Vlautin's first book, The Motel Life was well received. It was an editor's choice in the New York Times Book Review and named one of the top 25 books of the year by the Washington Post. Polsky Films released the film version of The Motel Life, starring Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, Dakota Fanning and Kris Kristofferson, in November 2013. The film was praised by critics across the US and won three prizes at the Rome International Film Festival: Audience Choice, Best Screenplay, and Editing.

In 2008 Vlautin released his first spoken word CD, A Jockey's Christmas, a black comedy about an overweight, alcoholic jockey who goes home to Reno for the holidays.

As a novelist, Vlautin has cited writers such as John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver, Barry Gifford, Sam Shepard, and William Kennedy as influences. As a songwriter, he has cited Tom Waits, Shane MacGowan, John Doe, and Australian musician Paul Kelly as influences. His writing is highly evocative of the American West; all three of his novels being set in and around Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico. His books explore the circumstances and relationships of people near the bottom of America's social and economic spectrum, itinerant and often alcoholic. He received the Silver Pen Award from the University of Nevada, Reno Friends of the University Library in 2007 and was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 2016.

Willy Vlautin (born 1967) is an American author, musician and songwriter. He was the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of Portland, Oregon rock band Richmond Fontaine (1994-2016) and is currently a member of The Delines. Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, he has released eleven studio albums since the mid nineties with Richmond Fontaine while he has written five novels: The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, The Free and Don’t Skip Out On Me.