Ethan Andrew Canin (born July 19, 1960) is an American author, educator, and
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
. He is a member of the faculty of the
Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...
at the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
.
Canin was born in
Ann Arbor
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, while his parents were vacationing from
Iowa City
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...
, where his father,
Stuart Canin
Stuart Canin (born 1926 in New York City) is an American violinist and conductor. On December 30, 1936, at the age of 10, he performed on the Fred Allen radio hour.Alex Walsh, "STUART CANIN: "...An Excellent Violinist." — Harry Truman," Dec. 10, ...
, taught violin at the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
. He and his family moved around the midwestern and northeastern United States, and eventually settled in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, where he attended
Town School and later graduated from
San Francisco University High School
San Francisco University High School is a private college preparatory high school located in San Francisco, California. The school was opened in 1975.
Facilities and campus
The school is made up of four buildings, commonly referred to as Upper, ...
. He attended
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
and earned an
undergraduate degree
An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...
in English. Returning to the University of Iowa, Canin entered the
Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...
, receiving an MFA in 1984, and went on to attend
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
, where he earned an
M.D.
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...
in 1991.
Beginning his medical practice with a residency at the
University of California San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It condu ...
, he pursued both medicine and writing for several years, leaving medicine in 1995
to join the faculty of the
Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...
, where he still teaches. He is a co-founder of the
San Francisco Writers Grotto.
Married with three daughters, Canin is of
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
background.
Awards
*The Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship (1986)
*Henfield/Transatlantic Review Prize (1987)
*The California Book Award/Gold Medal in Literature (1994)
*The Lyndhurst Prize (1994–1996)
*
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 ...
Fellowship (1987 & 1996)
*
Guggenheim Fellowship
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 ...
(2010)
Writing
Short story collections
*''Emperor of the Air'' (1985)
*''The Palace Thief'' (1994)
Novels
*''Blue River'' (1992) Time Warner International
*''
For Kings and Planets
''For Kings and Planets'' is a 1999 novel by Ethan Canin.
Plot
The story centers around the friendship of two college students at Columbia University and follows them from their freshman year in 1974 to their adult lives in the late 1990s. Orno i ...
'' (1999) Saint Martin's press Inc.
*''
Carry Me Across the Water
''Carry Me Across the Water'' is a novel by the American writer Ethan Canin.
It is an elegiac novel that tells the story of August Kleinman, a 78-year-old former Pittsburgh brewery owner who remembers episodes from his life—from his escape ...
'' (2001) Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
*''America America'' (2009) Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
*''A Doubter's Almanac: A Novel'' (2016) Random House
Filmography
Several of Canin's novels and short stories have been adapted for film.
Short films
*''Emperor of the Air'' (1996) dir.
Ali Selim
Ali Selim (born 1960/1961) is an American film and television director. Over the past fifteen years he has directed over 850 television commercials, five half-hour documentaries and several music videos.
Early life
Selim was born in Saint Paul ...
Feature films
*''
Blue River'' (1995) dir. Larry Elikann, based on the novel of the same name
*''
The Emperor's Club
''The Emperor's Club'' is a 2002 American drama film directed by Michael Hoffman and starring Kevin Kline. Based on Ethan Canin's 1994 short story "The Palace Thief", the film follows a prep school teacher and his students at a fictional boys ...
'' (2002) dir.
Michael Hoffman, based on the 1994 short story "The Palace Thief"
*''
Beautiful Ohio
"Beautiful Ohio" is the official song of the U.S. State of Ohio.
History
The first lyrics were written in 1918 by Ballard MacDonald and the music by Robert A. "Bobo" King, who used the pseudonym Mary Earl. The melody is partly based on " Song o ...
'' (2006) dir.
Chad Lowe
Charles Davis Lowe II (born January 15, 1968) is an American actor. He is the younger brother of actor Rob Lowe. He won an Emmy Award for his supporting role in '' Life Goes On'' as a young man living with HIV. He has had recurring roles on '' E ...
, based on the 1994 short story "Batorsag and Szerelem"
*''
The Year of Getting to Know Us'' (2008) dir. Patrick Sisam, based on the 1988 story "Star Food" and the 1987 story "The Year of Getting to Know Us"
References
Notes
External links
Ethan Canin's Official Web Site*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canin, Ethan
20th-century American novelists
Physicians from Iowa
University of Iowa alumni
Harvard Medical School alumni
Writers from Ann Arbor, Michigan
Writers from San Francisco
Stanford University alumni
Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty
1960 births
Living people
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
University of California, San Francisco alumni
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
Novelists from Michigan
Novelists from Iowa