Gary Shteyngart (; born July 5, 1972) is a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

writer. He is the author of five novels (including ''Absurdistan'' and ''

Super Sad True Love Story ''Super Sad True Love Story'' is the third novel by American writer Gary Shteyngart. The novel takes place in a near-future Dystopian novel, dystopian New York where life is dominated by media and retail. Plot summary The son of a Russian Americ ...

'') and a memoir. Much of his work is satirical.

Early life

Born Igor Semyonovich Shteyngart (russian: Игорь Семёнович Штейнгарт) in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, he spent the first seven years of his childhood living in a square dominated by a huge statue of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

in what is now

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

—which he alternately calls "St. Leningrad" or "St. Leninsburg". He comes from a

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 ...

family, with an ethnically Russian maternal grandparent, and describes his family as typically

. His father worked as an engineer in a

LOMO LOMO (russian: Ленинградское Oптико-Mеханическое Oбъединение, Leningradskoye Optiko-Mekhanicheskoye Obyedinenie, Leningrad Optical Mechanical Association) is a manufacturer of medical and motion-picture lens ...

camera factory; his mother was a pianist. When he was five, he wrote a 100-page comic novel. Shteyngart immigrated to the United States in 1979 and was brought up in Queens, New York, with no television in the apartment in which he lived, where English was not the household language. He did not shed his thick Russian accent until the age of 14. He is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and Oberlin College in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, where he earned a degree in politics, in 1995, with a senior thesis on the

former Soviet republics The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

and

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

Career

After Oberlin, he worked a series of jobs, as a writer, for non-profit organizations in New York. Shteyngart took a trip to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in the early 1990s, and this experience helped spawn his first novel, ''

The Russian Debutante's Handbook ''The Russian Debutante's Handbook'' is the debut novel by author Gary Shteyngart, published in 2002. It follows the exploits of young Russians both in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan and the European city of Prava (a pseudonym for Prag ...

'', set in the fictitious European city of Prava. In 1999, as part of the application to Hunter College's MFA program he mailed a portion of his first novel to

Chang-Rae Lee Chang-rae Lee (born July 29, 1965) is a Korean-American novelist and a professor of creative writing at Stanford University. He was previously Professor of Creative Writing at Princeton and director of Princeton's Program in Creative Writing. Ea ...

, the director of the creative writing program at Hunter College. Lee helped Shteyngart get his first book deal. Shteyngart earned an MFA in creative writing at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Shteyngart had a fellowship at the

American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and Germany ...

, Germany, for Fall 2007. He has taught writing at Hunter College, and currently teaches writing at

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 ...

Awards

Shteyngart's work has received numerous awards. ''

'' won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, the Book-of-the-Month Club First Fiction Award and the

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.''New York Times'' Notable Book and one of the best debuts of the year by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' In 2002, he was named one of the five best new writers by ''

Shout NY ''Shout NY'' was a thought and culture magazine that covered New York arts, music, film and politics from 1991 through 2003. In its early days, it was fairly obscure and predominantly focused on New York City nightlife. Re-launched in 2000, it d ...

'' Magazine. '' Absurdistan'' was chosen as one of the ten best books of the year by ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' and ''Time'' magazine, as well as a book of the year by the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'', ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'' and many other publications. In June 2010, Shteyngart was named as one of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' magazine's "20 under 40" luminary fiction writers. ''

'' won the 2011

Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize is the United Kingdom's first literary award for comic literature. Established in 2000 and named in honour of P. G. Wodehouse, past winners include Paul Torday in 2007 with ''Salmon Fishing in the Yemen'' an ...

for comic literature. His memoir ''Little Failure'' was a finalist for the 2014

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".

Work

Shteyngart's novels include ''

'' (2002), and '' Absurdistan'' (2006). ''

'' (2010) was promoted by a

film trailer A trailer (also known as a preview, coming attraction or attraction video) is a commercial advertisement, originally for a feature film that is going to be exhibited in the future at a movie theater/cinema. It is a product of creative and techni ...

with

Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor and film producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in '' Private Parts'' as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, leading to supporting roles in ''Saving Private R ...

and

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-M ...

. Thirty-five years after he emigrated to the U.S., in January, 2014,

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

published ''Little Failure: A Memoir'', and promoted it by a

with

and Rashida Jones. His 2018 book, ''Lake Success'' was promoted by a

with

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known ...

. His fifth novel, ''Our Country Friends,'' was published by Random House in 2021. It is a story about friends who spend the pandemic together. His other writing has appeared in ''

'', '' Slate'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Travel and Leisure ''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark rig ...

'', and ''

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 ...

''.

Blurbs

Shteyngart has also become known for his prolific

blurb A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust jacket of a book, and are now also fou ...

ing, which has inspired a

Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...

website devoted to his Collected Blurbs, a live reading, and a fifteen-minute documentary narrated by

Jonathan Ames Jonathan Ames (; born March 23, 1964) is an American author who has written a number of novels and comic memoirs, and is the creator of two television series, '' Bored to Death'' ( HBO) and ''Blunt Talk'' ( STARZ). In the late '90s and early ...

Bibliography

Books

Novels

*''

'' (2002), *'' Absurdistan'' (2006), *''

'' (2010), *''Lake Success'' (2018), *''Our Country Friends'' (October 2021),

Non-fiction

* '' Little Failure: A Memoir'' (2014),

Essays and reporting

* * *

Personal life

Shteyngart is married to Esther Won, who is of Korean descent. They have a son, born October 2013. Shteyngart now lives in the Gramercy neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. He spends six months out of the year at a house in northern Dutchess County, in the Hudson River Valley where he does nearly all of his writing.

References

Interviews

*
Interview
- Program for Jewish Civilization -

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

Interview 'On Meat over Meat: Dinner with Gary Shteyngart'
published in '' Gigantic''
Interview with Gary Shteyngart: On Travel Writing
* Rozalia Jovanovic
James Franco’s Face: A Subjective Account of the New Yorker Festival
October 26, 2009

with Gary Shteyngart on

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of C ...

's '' Writers and Company''
In Conversation: 1984 2.0: Gary Shteyngart with Alessandro Cassin, ''The Brooklyn Rail''

Interview with Gary Shteyngart about Absurdistan
- ''BOOKSWEB TV'' (English and Italian)
"Gary Shteyngart Becomes American"
- Jewcy Magazine

-

Modern Drunkard Magazine ''Modern Drunkard'' is a glossy color periodical humorously promoting the lifestyle of the "functional alcoholic". History Frank Kelly Rich founded ''Modern Drunkard'' in 1996. The first issue was 16 photocopied pages with made-up ads; in 20 ...

Interview
at barnesandnoble.com
Gary Shteyngart: Introducing a toilet
Recorded at

Louisiana Literature festival Louisiana Literature Festival is an annual literary festival which takes place around the third weekend of August at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 35 km (22 mi) north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The festival began in 2010, and each year it featur ...

. Video by

Louisiana Channel Louisiana Channel is a non-profit web-TV channel based at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, Denmark. By the end of the first year, 28 November 2013, Louisiana Channel had published 130 videos featuring international artists, film m ...

External links

Walter Kirn Walter Norris Kirn (born August 3, 1962) is an American novelist, literary critic, and essayist. He is the author of eight books, most notably '' Up in the Air'', which was made into a film of the same name starring George Clooney. Overview As ...

.
Review: "Absurdistan", by Gary Shteyngart – Russian Unorthodox
',

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 d ...

, April 30, 2006
Zadie Smith & Gary Shteyngart
at McNally Jackson {{DEFAULTSORT:Shteyngart, Gary 1972 births Living people American people of Russian-Jewish descent Exophonic writers Soviet emigrants to the United States Oberlin College alumni Hunter College alumni Writers from Saint Petersburg Stuyvesant High School alumni Hunter College faculty Columbia University faculty Princeton University faculty American satirists Jewish American novelists American male novelists The New Yorker people Novelists from New York (state) Novelists from New Jersey American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews