Diane Marie Cook is an American writer currently based in New York. Her debut novel, ''The New Wilderness'' (2020), was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.

Biography and career

After studying and writing fiction at university, Cook attended the

Salt Institute for Documentary Studies The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies (or simply Salt) is a non-profit graduate institution located in Portland, Maine, dedicated to the study of nonfiction storytelling, particularly documentary film and podcasting. Originally an independen ...

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, as a member of their first Radio cohort in 2000. She began her radio career as an intern, then producer at ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

''. She attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

for her MFA and a few years later published her first book, the short-story collection ''Man V. Nature''. It was a finalist for the 2015

Guardian First Book Award The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspap ...

, 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 the

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 ...

Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Her debut novel, ''The New Wilderness'' (2020), was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize. Cook's writing has appeared in '' Harper’s'', ''

Tin House ''Tin House'' is an American book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer of 1998. He enlisted Holly MacArt ...

'', ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'', and other publications, and her stories have been included in the anthologies ''

Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of '' The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in co ...

'' and '' The O. Henry Prize Stories''. In 2020 she was the

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

Lit Fest "International Writer in Residence". She has taught writing and literature at Columbia University and at the University of Michigan's New England Literature Program, in which students and teachers live and study together in a rustic camp, foregoing all technology and traditional classroom methods. Cook was the recipient of a 2016 fellowship from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

. She lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, with her husband, daughter and son.

References

American women novelists Living people 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers Year of birth missing (living people) Columbia University faculty University of Michigan faculty Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Salt Institute for Documentary Studies alumni American women academics {{US-novelist-stub