Donald Antrim (born 1958) is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

. His first novel, '' Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World'', was published in 1993. In 1999, ''

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 ...

'' named him as among the 20 best writers under the age of 40. In 2013, he was named a

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

Life

Antrim was born in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

. After graduating from

Woodberry Forest School Woodberry Forest School is a private, all-male boarding school located in Woodberry Forest, Madison County, Virginia, in the United States. Woodberry's current enrollment is 405. Students come from 28 U.S. states (plus the District of Columbi ...

in 1977, Antrim graduated from Brown University, taught prose fiction at the graduate school of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, and was the Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellow for Fiction 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 in Spring 2009. Antrim teaches in the MFA program 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 ...

and lives in Brooklyn. Antrim is a frequent contributor of fiction to ''The New Yorker'' and has written two other critically acclaimed novels, '' The Verificationist'' and '' The Hundred Brothers'', the latter of which was a finalist for the 1998

PEN/Faulkner Award The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US$5000. Fi ...

in fiction. He is also the author of '' The Afterlife'', a 2006

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

about his mother, Louanne Self. He has received grants and awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 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 ...

, and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. In 2013, he received a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation.

Family

Antrim is the brother of artist Terry Leness and the son of Harry Antrim, a scholar of T. S. Eliot.

Bibliography

Novels

* '' Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World'' (1993, ) * '' The Hundred Brothers'' (1998, ) * '' The Verificationist'' (2000, )

Short fiction

;Collections *''The Emerald Light in the Air : Stories'' (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.) Collects seven stories originally published in the New Yorker between 1999 and 2014. ;Stories *"An Actor Prepares" (New Yorker, June 21, 1999) *"Pond, with Mud" (New Yorker, October 20, 2003) *"Solace" (New Yorker, April 4, 2005) *"Another Manhattan" (New Yorker, December 22, 2008) *"He Knew" (New Yorker, May 9, 2011) *"Ever Since" (New Yorker, March 12, 2012) *"The Emerald Light in the Air" (New Yorker, February 3, 2014) ;Stories excerpted from novels *"Y Chromosome" (New Yorker, November 18, 1996) (from ''The Hundred Brothers'') *"The Pancake Supper" (New Yorker, December 7, 1999) (from ''The Verificationist'')

Non-fiction

;Books * '' The Afterlife: A Memoir'' (2006, ) * ''One Friday in April: A Story of Suicide and Survival'' (2021, ) ;Essays and reporting *Black Mountain 1977 *I Bought A Bed *A.K.A. Sam *Ad Nauseam *Church *The Kimono *A Man in the Kitchen *Fed *The Unprotected Life *Everywhere and Nowhere: A Journey Through Suicide

References

External links

Antrim interview

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110216040644/http://www.salon.com/books/review/2000/02/02/antrim/index.html Salon.com review of ''The Verificationist'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Antrim, Donald 1958 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers American male novelists American male short story writers Brown University alumni Columbia University faculty MacArthur Fellows Magic realism writers New York University faculty Postmodern writers The New Yorker people Woodberry Forest School alumni Writers from New York City PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state)