Charles Salzberg is an American novelist, journalist, editor, and teacher.

Early life and education

Salzberg was born in New York City in 1946. He graduated from

Barnard School for Boys The Barnard School for Boys was a college prep-school founded in 1886 by William Livingston Hazen., Descendants of Thomas Hazen In 1920, Barnard moved to 246th Street and Cayuga Avenue in the Riverdale section of the Bronx of New York City, i ...

in 1963. He then attended

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, earning a bachelor's degree in English in 1967. He attended the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

School of Law from 1967 to 1968.

Journalism

Salzberg got a job in the mail room at ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'' magazine in 1976. Between mail deliveries, he began to pitch article ideas to editor, Elizabeth Crowe. He then became a freelance writer, writing feature articles for periodicals such as ''

Esquire Magazine ''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst Communications, it also has more than 20 international editions. Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under t ...

'', '' GQ'', ''

Elle Magazine ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the wo ...

'', ''

Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the " Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication as of January 2019 and now operates an article-comprise ...

'', ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good House ...

'' and ''

New York (magazine) ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

''. He has written book reviews for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

,'' and 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 ...

.''

Books

Salzberg is the author of detective and crime fiction, as well as numerous works of nonfiction. His novels include the Henry Swann Detective Series: ''Swann's Last Song'' (2008), and ''Swann Dives In'' (2012). ''Swann's Last Song'' was a ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' recommendation and was nominated for a

Shamus Award The Shamus Award is awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) for the best detective fiction ( P. I. = Private investigator) genre novels and short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one si ...

. Salzberg's novel ''Devil in the Hole'' (2013) is based on the case of John List, who murdered his family and escaped conviction for 18 years. His nonfiction work includes books about baseball, basketball, coaching, and such well-known personalities as

Soupy Sales Milton Supman (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009), known professionally as Soupy Sales, was an American comedian, actor, radio-television personality, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television serie ...

and wrestler

Missy Hyatt Melissa Ann Hiatt (born October 16, 1963), better known by her ring name, Missy Hyatt, is an American retired professional wrestling valet, commentator, and occasional professional wrestler. She is best known for her appearances with World Champ ...

New York Writers Workshop and Teaching

Salzberg is a well-known writing teacher and mentor and is a founding member of the New York Writers Workshop. His students have included

Lauren Weisberger Lauren Weisberger (born March 28, 1977) is an American novelist and author of the 2003 bestseller '' The Devil Wears Prada'', a ''roman à clef'' of her experience as an assistant to ''Vogue'' editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Early life and educa ...

(author of '' The Devil Wears Prada''),

Joy Behar Josephine Victoria "Joy" Behar (; née Occhiuto) is an American comedian, television host, actress, and writer. She co-hosts the ABC daytime talk show '' The View'', where she is the only original panelist still regularly appearing. She hosted ...

(co-host of The View),

Susie Essman Susan Essman is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer and television producer, best known for her role as Susie Greene on '' Curb Your Enthusiasm'', Bobbi Wexler on ''Broad City'', and the voice of Mittens in '' Bolt''. Early life Es ...

(co-star of

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...

), Sally Koslow (author of ''Little Pink Slips''), Linda Yellin (author of ''The Last Blind Date'' and ''Such a Lovely Couple''), and Stephanie Klein (author of ''Straight Up and Dirty''). Salzberg has taught writing at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

, the Open Center, and the Writer's Voice, and has served as Visiting Professor of Magazine Journalism at the

S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic d ...

. In 1996, the magazine ''

'' called him one of "New York's Great Teachers" .

Later years

As of 2010, Salzberg was serving as the fiction editor of the webzine ''Ducts'', and was

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of a publishing house he co-founded, Greenpoint Press.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Devil in the Hole'' (2013) * ''Second Story Man'' (2018) * ''Canary in the Coal Mine'' (2022)

Swann Series

* ''Swann's Down'' (2008) * ''Swann's Lake of Despair'' (2008) * ''Swann Dives In'' (2012) * ''Swann's Last Song'' (2012) * ''Swann's Way Out'' (2017)

Nonfiction

* ''From Set Shot to Slam Dunk: The Glory Days of Basketball in the Words of Those Who Played It'' (1988) * ''Missy Hyatt: The First Lady of Wrestling'' (with

) (2001) * ''On a Clear Day They Could See Seventh Place: Baseball's Worst Teams'' (with George Robinson) (1991) * ''Catch Them Being Good: Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Coach Girls'' (with

Tony DiCicco Anthony D. DiCicco Jr. (August 5, 1948 – June 19, 2017) was an American soccer player and coach and TV commentator. He is best known as the coach of the United States women's national soccer team from 1994 to 1999, during which time the team won ...

) (2003) * ''Soupy Sez: My Zany Life and Times'' (with

) (2003) * ''The Mad Fisherman: Kick Some Bass with America's Wildest TV Host'' (with Charlie Moore) (2009)

References

External links

*
Amazon Author's Page

Mystery Writers of America profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salzberg, Charles 1946 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American crime fiction writers American educators American male journalists American male novelists Syracuse University alumni Novelists from New York (state) 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Boston University School of Law alumni