Howard McCord was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1932.  He served in the Navy during the Korean War, received his BA from University of Texas in 1957, and his MA from the University of Utah in 1958.  He taught at Washington State University from 1960 to 1971, and at Bowling Green State University from 1971 to 2000.  He was director of the Creative Writing Program there for many years.  At various times he has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Alaska Southeast, California State University at Northridge, and Navaho College.  The author of three dozen books and chapbooks, he has given readings from his works at more than two hundred universities.

Poet, essayist, and novelist, he is the recipient of two Fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, and two from The Ohio Arts Council; a Fulbright award took him to India, where he studied at the University of Mysore; Washington State University awarded him a E.O. Holland Fellowship to "explore the back roads of the West;" the University of New Mexico awarded him the D. H. Lawrence Fellowship, and a Research Fellowship from Bowling Green State University sent him to backpack in Iceland and Lapland.  He was named an "Author of the Pass" by the El Paso Herald-Post in 1988.  The University of Texas at El Paso presented him its Gold Nugget Award in 1990, and the same year he won The Ohioana Poetry Award.  In 1996 he won the Robert Loveless Award for the best article in GUN DIGEST.  He has published 3 articles in GUN DIGEST, one in THE AMERICAN RIFLEMAN (later reprinted in THE NRA GUIDEBOOK FOR HUNTERS, 1970), an article in KNIVES 95, and in an issue of THE SHOOTIST. He is a Life Member of The Sandusky County Outdoorsman Association at Gibsonburg, and a member  of the Ohio Gun Collectors Association. In 2004 he taught the first class offered by BGSU to fulfill licensing requirements for those wishing to obtain an Ohio Concealed Carry license.

He was awarded the Nancy Dasher Book Award in 1999 for his novel, The Man Who Walked To The Moon. His 419 page Complete Poems was published in 2002, as was Bone / Hueso, a collection of poems written in Spanish and English, illustrated with 32 block prints by Adrian Tio, and bound by Russell McKnight. A climber for nearly sixty years, he continues to travel the backcountry of the west in search of interesting rock. An early exploit was recently presented in Pat Ament, A History of Free Climbing in America: Wizards of Rock, Berkeley, 2002.

He is married to Jennifer Revis, and they are the parents of four grown children, Susannah, Julia, Wyatt, and Eva.  He is also the father of two sons from his marriage with Dora Ochoa, Colman and Robert.  He has five grandchildren: Jacob, Valentina, Evan, Skye, and Sophia.