Nicholas Delbanco
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Nicholas Delbanco (born 1942) is an American writer.


Life and career

Delbanco was born in London, England, the son of German Jewish parents Barbara (née Bernstein) and Kurt Delbanco, a businessman, art dealer, and sculptor. He was educated at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, graduating with a B.A. in 1963; and 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 ...
, with an M.A. in 1966. He taught at
Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
, Bennington, Vermont, 1966–1984, and at
Skidmore College Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...
, Saratoga Springs, New York, 1984–85. He was a visiting professor at such institutions also as Trinity College, Williams College, Columbia University and the University of Iowa. He was director of the MFA Program, and the Hopwood Awards Program at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, until his retirement in 2015. He has published 30 books of fiction and nonfiction. His most recent novel is ''The Years'' (2013), and his most recent work of nonfiction is ''Curiouser and Curiouser: Essays'' (2017). In 2015, he published ''The Art of Youth: Crane, Carrington, Gershwin, and the Nature of First Acts''. In 2016, he published the Omnibus collection, ''Dear Wizard: The Letters of Nicholas Delbanco and Jon Manchip White''. In 2011, he republished ''Sherbrookes''. This book brings his trilogy of novels (''Possession'', ''Sherbrookes'', and ''Stillness'' from 1977, 1978, and 1980, respectively) between the covers of a single book. ''Shebrookes'' is not simply a reissue of the three original novels together, but a revised edition of the trilogy without being a complete revision of the original story. Delbanco has served as chair of the Fiction Panel for the National Book Awards, and as a judge for, among other contests, the PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1980, and twice, a
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 ...
writing fellowship.


Personal life

Delbanco is the brother of Thomas L. Delbanco, a physician and Harvard professor, and social critic and historian
Andrew Delbanco Andrew H. Delbanco (born 1952) is the Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies at Columbia University and the president of thTeagle Foundation He is the author of many books, including ''The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Str ...
. He is married to Elena Greenhouse, daughter of Beaux Arts Trio cellist Bernard Greenhouse. They have two daughters, novelist and screenwriter Francesca Delbanco, and ''TIME'' editor Andrea Delbanco. In 1962, while Delbanco was a student at Harvard, he was in a creative writing course at Harvard Summer School taught by John Updike, author and Harvard alumnus. Another student in this class was
Jonathan Penner Jonathan Lindsay Penner (born March 5, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, television personality, and film producer, known for producing and starring in the film ''The Last Supper'', as well as acting in the television series '' Rude Awa ...
. In the 1960s, Delbanco might have had a relationship with Carly Simon, which might be alluded to in her song "
You're So Vain "You're So Vain" is a song written in 1971 by American singer and songwriter Carly Simon and released in November 1972. It is one of the songs with which Simon is most identified, and upon its release, reached No. 1 in the United States, Canada, ...
", but Simon refuses to confirm.


Works


Short stories

* The collection, ''About My Table, and Other Stories'', publisher—William Morrow & Co, 1983 * The collection, ''The Writer's Trade, and Other Stories'', publisher—William Morrow & Co.


Novels

* * ''Grasse, 3/23/66''. Lippincott. 1968. * ''Consider Sappho Burning''. Morrow, 1969. * * * ''The Sherbrooke Trilogy'' (1977–1980) * * * * * * *''Sherbrookes: Possession / Sherbrookes / Stillness.'' Champagne, Ill: Dalkey Archive Press, 2011. (paper) (e-book) "The Years", Little A books, 2017


Nonfiction

* * * * * * * * title: "Curiouser and Curiouser" Ohio State University Press, 2017


Editor

* * ''The Sincerest Form, Writing Fiction by Imitation'', publisher-McGraw-Hill, 2004 * ''Craft & Voice, an Introduction to Literature'' (w. Alan Cheuse), publisher—McGraw-Hill, 2012


References


External links


Author's Official WebsiteUniversity of Michigan faculty
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110716112533/http://www.bennington.edu/index.cfm?objectID=2927A975-5056-BA14-23A90723FB6F54DE ''Nicholas Delbanco on Writers at Bennington'', August 14 2007br>''Nicholas Delbanco'', Harper's Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delbanco, Nicholas 1942 births American people of German-Jewish descent Jewish American writers Columbia University alumni Harvard University alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty Living people University of Michigan faculty 21st-century American Jews