Jake Halpern (born 1975) is an American writer, commentator, and

radio producer A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions: *Content producers or executive producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature. The content producer might organize music choi ...

Life and career

He was born in

Buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * Bubalina, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York Buffalo or buffaloes may also refer to: Animals * Bubalina, a subtribe of the tr ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, where he attended

City Honors School City Honors School at Fosdick-Masten Park, known colloquially as City Honors, or CHS, is a college preparatory school in Buffalo, New York, United States. It is part of the Buffalo Public Schools system. The school was founded in 1975 for academ ...

. Halpern later attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, where he received an undergraduate degree in 1997. He has written for ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

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 issue ...

'', the ''

New Republic New Republic may refer to: Places * New Republic, California, former name of Santa Rita, Monterey County, California * New Republic (Santarem), district in the city of Santarém, Pará Countries * New Republic (Brazil), the restored civilian gove ...

'', ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...

'', ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'', '' Smithsonian'', '' GQ'', ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

'', ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...

'', and other publications. Halpern is also a commentator and a freelance producer for

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from othe ...

's ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'' and a contributor to ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

''. Jake's hour-long radio story, "Switched at Birth," was selected by host

Ira Glass Ira Jeffrey Glass (; born March 3, 1959) is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series ''This American Life'' and has participated in other NPR programs, including ''Morning Edition'', ...

as one of the eight stories that best represent ''This American Life'' to new listeners. His first book, ''Braving Home'' (), considered the lives of Americans who actively chose to live in or near dangerous places like

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

es. The book was a main selection for the Book of the Month Club by Bill Bryson. His second book, ''Fame Junkies'' (), considers the psychological underpinnings of celebrity obsession, and was the basis for an original series on

's ''

''. Jake’s most recent nonfiction book, ''Bad Paper'' (2014), was excerpted as a cover story for the ''New York Times Magazine'' and was a ''New York Times'' best seller. He co-wrote his first novel, ''Dormia'', with Peter Kujawinski, and it was published in the spring of 2009 to mixed reviews. The two went on to co-write other books, including two ''Dormia'' sequels, called ''World's End'' and ''The Shadow Tree''. Their other young adult novels include ''Nightfall'' and ''Edgeland.'' Halpern also collaborated with illustrator Michael Sloan to create
Welcome to the New World
" a true comic about a family of Syrian refugees that ran in the ''New York Times''. In

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, Halpern and Sloan received the

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning The Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary is one of the fourteen Pulitzer Prizes that is annually awarded for journalism in the United States. It is the successor to the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning awarded from 1922 ...

. Halpern is a former

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

and a current fellow of Morse College at Yale, where he teaches a seminar on journalism.

Bibliography

Books

* * ''Fame Junkies: The Hidden Truths behind America's Favorite Addiction'', nonfiction (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007) * ''Bad Paper: Chasing Debt from Wall Street to the Underworld'', nonfiction (New York: FSG, 2014) ;Fiction * ''Dormia'', fiction (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2009) * ''Nightfall'', fiction (New York: Putnam, 2015) * ''Edge Land'', fiction (New York: Putnam, 2017)

Essays and reporting

Halpern, Jake (August 10, 2015).
The Cop: Darren Wilson was not indicted for shooting Michael Brown. Many people question whether justice was done
The New Yorker. *Online version is titled "The underground railroad for refugees".

References

*Source: Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2005.

External links

Jake Halpern's Home PageThe official website for the novel, Dormia
*
'Fame Junkies' InterviewThis American Life FavoritesJake Halpern at Yale
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halpern, Jake 1975 births Living people American male journalists American social sciences writers Yale University alumni The New Yorker people Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning winners