Ben Lerner

Benjamin S. Lerner (born February 4, 1979) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and critic. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a finalist for the National Book Award, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and a MacArthur Fellow, 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, where he was named a Distinguished Professor of English in 2016.

Life and work

Lerner was born and raised in Topeka, Kansas, which figures in each of his books of poetry. His mother is the clinical psychologist Harriet Lerner. He is a 1997 graduate of Topeka High School, where he participated in debate and forensics, winning the 1997 National Forensic League National Tournament in International Extemporaneous Speaking. At Brown University he studied with poet C. D. Wright and earned a B.A. in political theory and an MFA in poetry.

Lerner was awarded the Hayden Carruth prize for his cycle of 52 sonnets, ''The Lichtenberg Figures''.
In 2004 ''Library Journal'' 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. His third poetry collection, ''Mean Free Path'', was published in 2010.

Lerner's first novel, ''Leaving the Atocha Station,'' published in 2011, won the Believer Book Award and was a finalist for the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Award for first fiction and the New York Public Library's Young Lions prize. Writing in ''The Guardian'', Geoff Dyer 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 Prize from ''The Paris Review''. Writing in the ''Los Angeles Review of Books'', Maggie Nelson called ''10:04'' a "near perfect piece of literature." Lerner's 2019 novel, ''The Topeka School'', was acclaimed in ''The New York Times Book Review'' 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'', among other publications. ''The Topeka School'' was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

In 2008 Lerner began editing poetry for ''Critical Quarterly'', a British scholarly publication. In 2016 he became the first poetry editor at '' Harper's''. He has taught at California College of the Arts and the University of Pittsburgh, and in 2010 joined the faculty of the MFA program at Brooklyn College.

In 2016 Lerner became a Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities. He received a 2015 MacArthur Fellowship.

Bibliography

Poetry

*
*
*
* Collection of previous three volumes.

Novels

* ''Leaving the Atocha Station'', Coffee House Press, 2011.
* '' 10:04'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.
* ''The Topeka School,'' 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. Wave Books, 2019.

Collaborations with artists

*''Blossom.'' Mack Books, 2015. With Thomas Demand.
*''The Polish Rider.'' Mack Books, 2018. With Anna Ostoya.
*''The Snows of Venice.'' Spector Books, 2018. With Alexander Kluge
*''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 for ''Angle of Yaw''.
* 2006 – Finalist, Northern California Book Awards for ''Angle of Yaw''
* 2007 – Kansas Notable Book 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 of the New York Public Library
* 2012 – ''The Believer'' Book Award
* 2012 – Finalist, William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
* 2012 – Finalist, PEN/Bingham Award
* 2013 – Finalist, James Tait Black Memorial Prize
* 2013 – Guggenheim Fellowship
* 2014 – Terry Southern Fiction Prize from ''The Paris Review''
* 2014 – Finalist, Folio Prize

* 2017 - named one of ''Granta's'' best young American novelists
* 2015–2020 Winner, MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
* 2019 Finalist, Folio Prize
* 2019 Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
* 2020 Finalist, The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

References

External links

An essay
about ''The Topeka School'' and Lerner's other novels at '' Harper's''
An excerpt
from ''The Topeka School'' at ''The New Yorker''
Lerner's page
and the MacArthur Foundation
An editorial
by Lerner against funding cuts in higher education
Interview with Ariana Reines
in ''Bomb Magazine''

Lerner's page
at the Guggenheim Foundation

Lerner's National Book Award page

Lerner's page
at ''Narrative'' magazine


in ''The New Yorker''

Interview with Lerner
in ''The Believer''

Interview with Lerner
in ''Bookforum''


in ''The Huffington Post''

Audio of Lerner poetry reading

"My First Time"
interview with Lerner by ''The Paris Review''

{{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