Benjamin S. Lerner (born February 4, 1979) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and critic. He has been a
Fulbright Scholar
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
, a finalist for the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a finalist for the
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
, a finalist for the
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".[Guggenheim Fellow
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...]
, and a
MacArthur Fellow
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...
, among other honors. In 2011 he won the "Preis der Stadt Münster für internationale Poesie", the first American to receive the honor.
Lerner teaches at
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
, where he was named a Distinguished Professor of English in 2016.
Life and work
Lerner was born and raised in
Topeka
Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Uni ...
,
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
, which figures in each of his books of poetry. His mother is the clinical psychologist
Harriet Lerner
Harriet Lerner (born November 30, 1944), is a clinical psychologist best known for her contributions to psychoanalytic concepts regarding family and feminist theory and therapy, and for her many psychology books written for the general public. From ...
. He is a 1997 graduate of
Topeka High School
Topeka High School (THS) is a public secondary school in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It serves students in grades 9 to 12, and is one of five high schools operated by the Topeka USD 501 school district. In the 2010–2011 school year, there ...
, where he participated in debate and forensics, winning the 1997
National Forensic League
The National Speech and Debate Association is an American student debating society. It was established in 1925 as the National Forensic League; the name was changed in 2014. It is one of four major national organizations that direct high school ...
National Tournament in International Extemporaneous Speaking.
At
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
he studied with poet
C. D. Wright and earned a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in
political theory
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...
and an
MFA in poetry.
Lerner was awarded the
Hayden Carruth
Hayden Carruth (August 3, 1921 – September 29, 2008) was an American poet, literary critic and anthologist. He taught at Syracuse University.
Life
Hayden Carruth was born in Waterbury, Connecticut and grew up in Woodbury, Connecticut. He gra ...
prize for his cycle of 52
sonnets
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...
, ''The Lichtenberg Figures''.
In 2004 ''
Library Journal
''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...
'' named it one of the year's 12 best books of poetry.
In 2003 Lerner traveled on a
Fulbright Scholarship to Madrid, Spain, where he wrote his second book of poetry, ''Angle of Yaw'', which was published in 2006. It was named a finalist for the
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
. His third poetry collection, ''Mean Free Path'', was published in 2010.
Lerner's first novel, ''
Leaving the Atocha Station
''Leaving the Atocha Station'' (2011) is the debut novel by American poet and critic Ben Lerner. It won the 2011 Believer Book Award.
Story
The first-person narrator of the novel, Adam Gordon, is an American poet in his early 20s participating ...
,'' published in 2011, won the
Believer Book Award Believer Book Award is an American literary award presented yearly by '' The Believer'' magazine to novels and story collections, nonfiction books or essay collections, poetry collections, and, beginning in 2021 (awarding to books published in 2020) ...
and was a finalist for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' Book Award for first fiction and the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
's Young Lions prize. Writing in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'',
Geoff Dyer
Geoff Dyer (born 5 June 1958) is an English author. He has written a number of novels and non-fiction books, some of which have won literary awards.
Personal background
Dyer was born and raised in Cheltenham, England, as the only child of a ...
called it "a work so luminously original in style and form as to seem like a premonition, a comet from the future." Excerpts of Lerner's second novel, ''
10:04'', won the
Terry Southern
Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 – October 29, 1995) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style. Part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to ...
Prize from ''
The Paris Review
''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...
''.
Writing in the ''
Los Angeles Review of Books
The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...
'',
Maggie Nelson
Maggie Nelson (born 1973) is an American writer. She has been described as a genre-busting writer defying classification, working in autobiography, art criticism, theory, feminism, queerness, sexual violence, the history of the avant-garde, aes ...
called ''10:04'' a "near perfect piece of literature." Lerner's 2019 novel, ''
The Topeka School
''The Topeka School'' is a 2019 novel by the American novelist and poet Ben Lerner about a high school debate champion from Topeka, Kansas in the 1990s. The book is considered both a ''bildungsroman'' and a work of autofiction, as the narrative ...
'', was acclaimed in ''
The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' as "a high-water mark in recent American fiction." Giles Harvey, in ''The New York Times Magazine'', called ''The Topeka School'' "the best book yet by the most talented writer of his generation." Lerner’s essays, art criticism, and literary criticism have appeared in
Art in America, ''boundary 2'', ''Frieze'', ''
Harper's'', ''The Los Angeles Review of Books'', and ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', among other publications.
''The Topeka School'' was a finalist for the
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for Fiction.
In 2008 Lerner began editing poetry for ''
Critical Quarterly
''Critical Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the humanities published by Wiley. The editor-in-chief is Colin MacCabe. The journal notably published the Black Papers on education starting in 1969.
History Early years
''Critical Qua ...
'', a British scholarly publication. In 2016 he became the first poetry editor at ''
Harper's''. He has taught at
California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in Sa ...
and the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
, and in 2010 joined the faculty of the MFA program at
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
.
In 2016 Lerner became a Fellow of the
New York Institute for the Humanities The New York Institute for the Humanities (NYIH) is an academic organization founded by Richard Sennett in 1976 to promote the exchange of ideas between academics, writers, and the general public. The NYIH regularly holds seminars open to the publ ...
. He received a 2015
MacArthur Fellowship
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...
.
Bibliography
Poetry
*
*
*
* Collection of previous three volumes.
Novels
* ''
Leaving the Atocha Station
''Leaving the Atocha Station'' (2011) is the debut novel by American poet and critic Ben Lerner. It won the 2011 Believer Book Award.
Story
The first-person narrator of the novel, Adam Gordon, is an American poet in his early 20s participating ...
'',
Coffee House Press
Coffee House Press is a nonprofit independent press based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The press’s goal is to "produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience ...
, 2011.
* ''
10:04'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.
* ''
The Topeka School
''The Topeka School'' is a 2019 novel by the American novelist and poet Ben Lerner about a high school debate champion from Topeka, Kansas in the 1990s. The book is considered both a ''bildungsroman'' and a work of autofiction, as the narrative ...
,'' Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.
Short fiction
;Stories
Non-fiction
''The Hatred of Poetry.'' FSG Originals, 2016.
Edited volumes
''Keeping / the window open: Interviews, Statements, Alarms, Excursions.'' On Keith and
Rosmarie Waldrop
Rosmarie Waldrop (born Rosmarie Sebald; August 24, 1935) is an American poet, novelist, translator, essayist and publisher. Born in Germany, she has lived in the United States since 1958 and has settled in Providence, Rhode Island since the lat ...
. Wave Books, 2019.
Collaborations with artists
*''Blossom.'' Mack Books, 2015. With
Thomas Demand
Thomas Cyrill Demand (born 1964) is a German sculptor and photographer. He currently lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles, and teaches at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg.
Demand had his first solo exhibition at Tanit Galerie in Munich ...
.
*''The Polish Rider.'' Mack Books, 2018. With Anna Ostoya.
*''The Snows of Venice.'' Spector Books, 2018. With
Alexander Kluge
Alexander Kluge (born 14 February 1932) is a German author, philosopher, academic and film director.
Early life, education and early career
Kluge was born in Halberstadt, Province of Saxony (now Saxony-Anhalt), Germany.
After growing up durin ...
*''Gold Custody.'' Mack Books, 2021. With
Barbara Bloom
* ''The Clichés.'' Song Cave Editions, 2022. With
R.H. Quaytman
Awards
* 2003 – Hayden Carruth Award
* 2003–2004 –
Fulbright Fellowship
* 2006 – Finalist,
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
for ''Angle of Yaw''.
* 2006 – Finalist, Northern California Book Awards for ''Angle of Yaw''
* 2007 –
Kansas Notable Book
The State of Kansas Notable Book Awards are presented annually for fifteen notable books created by writers, illustrators or book artists who are Kansans or have written about Kansas. The award, originally established in 2006, is organized by th ...
for ''Angle of Yaw''
* 2010–2011 – Howard Foundation Fellowship
* 2011 – Preis der Stadt Münster für internationale Poesie
* 2011 – Finalist, ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Award for first fiction
* 2012 – Finalist,
Young Lions Fiction Award
The Young Lions Fiction Award is an annual US literary prize of $10,000, awarded to a writer who is 35 years old or younger for a novel or collection of short stories. The award was established in 2001 by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick ...
of the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
* 2012 – ''The Believer'' Book Award
* 2012 – Finalist,
William Saroyan International Prize for Writing The William Saroyan International Prize for Writing is a biennial literary award for fiction and nonfiction in the spirit of William Saroyan by emerging writers. It was established by Stanford University Libraries and the William Saroyan Foundation ...
* 2012 – Finalist, PEN/Bingham Award
* 2013 – Finalist, James Tait Black Memorial Prize
* 2013 – Guggenheim Fellowship
* 2014 –
Terry Southern
Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 – October 29, 1995) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style. Part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to ...
Fiction Prize from ''The Paris Review''
* 2014 – Finalist,
Folio Prize
The Rathbones Folio Prize, previously known as the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting in 2017 the sponsor is ...
[
]
* 2017 - named one of ''Granta's'' best young American novelists
* 2015–2020 Winner, MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
* 2019 Finalist,
Folio Prize
The Rathbones Folio Prize, previously known as the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting in 2017 the sponsor is ...
* 2019 Finalist,
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".[Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...]
for Fiction
* 2020 Finalist,
The Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
for Fiction
References
External links
An essayabout ''The Topeka School'' and Lerner's other novels at ''
Harper's''
An excerptfrom ''The Topeka School'' at ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''
Lerner's pageand the
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...
An editorialby Lerner against funding cuts in higher education
Interview with Ariana Reinesin ''Bomb Magazine''
Lerner's pageat the
Guggenheim Foundation
Lerner's National Book Award pageLerner's pageat ''Narrative'' magazine
in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''
Interview with Lernerin ''The Believer''
Interview with Lernerin ''Bookforum''
in ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
''
Audio of Lerner poetry reading"My First Time"interview with Lerner by ''
The Paris Review
''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerner, Ben
1979 births
Living people
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American novelists
21st-century American poets
American male novelists
American male poets
Believer Book Award winners
Brooklyn College faculty
Brown University alumni
Harper's Magazine people
MacArthur Fellows
The New Yorker people
Novelists from New York (state)
Novelists from Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh faculty
Writers from Topeka, Kansas
Fulbright alumni