Ben Fountain (born 1958) is an American writer currently living in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. He has won many awards including a PEN/Hemingway award for ''Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories'' (2007) and 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".debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

'' Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'' (2012).

Early life

Fountain was born in

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange, Durham and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-largest municipality in the state. Chapel Hill, Durham, and the state ...

. He grew up in

Elizabeth City Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,629. Elizabeth City is the county seat and largest city of Pasquotank County. It is the cultural, economic and educ ...

, a

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

town in eastern North Carolina. His family moved to

Cary Cary may refer to: Places ;United States * Cary, Illinois, part of the Chicago metropolitan area * Cary, Indiana, part of the Indianapolis metropolitan area * Cary, Miami County, Indiana * Cary, Maine * Cary, Mississippi * Cary, North Carolina ...

, near

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

, when he was 13. Fountain earned a B.A. in English from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

in 1980, and a J.D. degree from the

Duke University School of Law Duke University School of Law (Duke Law School or Duke Law) is the law school of Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law is a constituent academic unit t ...

in 1983. After a brief stint practicing

real estate law Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

Akin Gump Akin may refer to: People * Akin (given name), a list of people * Akin (surname), a list of people * Akın, a list of people with the Turkish given name or surname Places * Akin, Illinois, a town in the United States * Akin, Aksaray, a village ...

in Dallas, Fountain quit law in 1988 to become a full-time fiction writer.

Writing career

While collecting articles about things he was interested in, Fountain was riveted by

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...

, regarding it "like a laboratory, almost ... Everything that’s gone on in the last five hundred years—

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their reli ...

, race, power, politics, ecological disasters — it’s all there in very concentrated form. And also I just felt, viscerally, pretty comfortable there." Speaking little French, let alone

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; ht, kreyòl ayisyen, links=no, ; french: créole haïtien, links=no, ), commonly referred to as simply ''Creole'', or ''Kreyòl'' in the Creole language, is a French-based creole language spoken by 10–12million people wor ...

, he went for his first trip abroad there in 1991 and at least thirty more times. From this came four of the best regarded stories in his 2006 breakthrough collection of short stories: ''Brief Encounters With Che Guevara'' when Fountain was forty-eight. He has won numerous awards and inclusion of his work in ''New Stories from the South: The Year's Best'' (2006). Fountain's debut novel, '' Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'', was released in early May 2012.

Ang Lee Ang Lee (; born October 23, 1954) is a Taiwanese filmmaker. Born in Pingtung County of southern Taiwan, Lee was educated in Taiwan and later in the United States. During his filmmaking career, he has received international critical and popula ...

directed a film adaptation, '' Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'', which began filming in 2015 and was released in November 2016.

Personal life

Fountain married Sharon (née Monahan), an attorney, in 1985; they met when both were students at

. They have two children.

Awards and honors

* 2002

Texas Institute of Letters The Texas Institute of Letters is a non-profit Honor Society founded by William Harvey Vann in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and to recognize distinctive literary achievement. The TIL’s elected membership consists of the state’s most respe ...

Short Story Award * 2003 Texas Institute of Letters Short Story Award * 2005 Texas Institute of Letters Short Story Award * 2004

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

* 2005 O. Henry Award * 2006

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 ...

Discover Award for Fiction * 2007 O. Henry Award * 2007

Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award The PEN/Hemingway Award is awarded annually to a full-length novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Hemingw ...

for ''Brief Encounters with Che Guevara'' * 2007

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and ...

* 2012

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 ...

(fiction), finalist, '' Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'' * 2012 Specsavers National Book Awards International Author of the Year shortlist for ''Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'' * 2012 Goodreads Readers Choice Awards 2012, Best Fiction finalist for ''Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'' * 2012 Flaherty-Dunnan

Center for Fiction First Novel Prize __NOTOC__ The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize is an annual award presented by The Center for Fiction, a non-profit organization in New York City, for the best debut novel. From 2006 to 2011, it was called the John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Pri ...

, ''Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'' * 2012

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 ...

(fiction), ''Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'' * 2013

Dayton Literary Peace Prize The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is an annual United States literary award "recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace" that was first awarded in 2006. Awards are given for adult fiction and non-fiction books published at some point ...

(fiction), runner-up, ''Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'' * 2013

Chautauqua Prize The Chautauqua Prize is an annual American literary award established by the Chautauqua Institution The Chautauqua Institution ( ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education center and summer resort for adults and youth located on in Chautauqua, New Yo ...

, shortlist, ''Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk''

Bibliography

Books

* ''Brief Encounters With Che Guevara'' (Ecco, 2006, ) * '' Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk'' (Ecco, 2012, ) * ''Beautiful Country Burn Again'' (Ecco, 2018,

Short fiction

"Near-Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera," ''Zoetrobe: All-Story'', Spring 2002

References

External links

Profile at The Whiting Foundation

All-story.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fountain, Ben 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American male short story writers Duke University School of Law alumni Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winners Living people People from Dallas People from Chapel Hill, North Carolina University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American male writers 1958 births