Dick Wimmer, whose first novel “Irish Wine” was finally published after more than 25 years of rejections, has died. He was 74.
Wimmer died of heart complications on Wednesday at his home in Agoura Hills, about 20 miles west of Los Angeles, his son, Geordie, told the Los Angeles Times.
Wimmer once claimed to be history’s most-rejected published novelist. His book was turned down by publishers and agents 162 times.
“It’s probably harder to get a novel published than to make a movie,” Wimmer once said.
“Irish Wine,” a reunion between an Irish painter and a would-be American writer, received good reviews when it was finally published in 1989.
“I don’t want it to be a freak of fiction,” Wimmer told the Times in 1989. “I would like the book to hold up on its own merits.”
Wimmer followed it with two sequels: “Boyne’s Lassie,” which appeared in 1998 after what Wimmer said were 83 rejections, and “Hagar’s Dream,” published with the two earlier books as the “Irish Wine Trilogy” in 2001.
Wimmer also edited nonfiction sports novels, wrote the screenplay for the 1982 television movie “The Million-Dollar Infield” and taught English and creative writing.
In addition to his son, Wimmer is survived by another son, Ceo, of Pasadena, Md., and four grandchildren.
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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com
Article source: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=13667819
