William Joseph Alexander (born October 9, 1976) is an American writer and academic. He is an adjunct professor in liberal arts at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, located in Montpelier, Vermont. He won the annual National Book Award for Young People's Literature recognizing his debut novel, '' Goblin Secrets'', which was published by Margaret K. McElderry Books in 2012. It features an orphaned boy who runs away to search for his lost brother in the magical city of Zombay.

Education

Alexander studied theater and folklore at

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

, located in Oberlin, Ohio; and English at the University of Vermont, located in

Burlington, Vermont Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...

Career

His first published

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

was a seven-page short story, "The Birthday Rooms" (''Zahir'', Summer 2005), which earned a 2006 Calvino Prize nomination. Alexander acknowledges that his writing style is influenced by well-known fantasy and mystery authors, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Susan Cooper. ''Goblin Secrets'' has received praise from Alexander's literary heroine Le Guin, author of the Earthsea series, and from

Peter S. Beagle Peter Soyer Beagle (born April 20, 1939) is an American novelist and screenwriter, especially of fantasy fiction. His best-known work is ''The Last Unicorn'' (1968), a fantasy novel he wrote in his twenties, which ''Locus'' subscribers voted the ...

, author of '' The Last Unicorn'', and a starred review from ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

''. Alexander plans a series of novels set in Zombay.YA Wednesday: 2012 National Book Award Finalist William Alexander and His ''Goblin Secrets'' by Jeff VanderMee

/ref> After the release of ''Goblin Secrets'' he told the Enchanted Inkpot, "That place isn't done with me yet. The next Zombay book is about music and shadows. It runs parallel to this one, sharing a few scenes and characters but otherwise unfolding in different parts of the city. Zombay is a big place. Cities are always full of different stories unfolding at once." The first sequel was released March 2013, ''Ghoulish Song''. British editions of both novels were published later that year by the Much-in-Little imprint of Constable & Robinson. Alexander has noted that ''Ghoulish Song'' is "not precisely a sequel ... the two happen at the same time, in the same city, and involve several of the same characters, but the books also stand alone. You can see them unfold in the background of each other, if you look."

Selected works

* "The Birthday Rooms", ''Zahir #7'', Summer 2005, pp. 6–12 – his speculative fiction debut *
A Revisionist History of Earthsea
(essay), '' Strange Horizons'', October 2008 * ''Goblin Secrets'' (Margaret K. McElderry, 2012, ) * ''Ghoulish Song'' (McElderry, 2013, )

References

External links

* – Biography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, William Joseph Place of birth missing (living people) 1976 births 21st-century American novelists American children's writers American fantasy writers American male novelists Living people Minneapolis College of Art and Design faculty National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners Oberlin College alumni University of Vermont alumni Writers from Minneapolis American writers of Cuban descent 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Minnesota