Adam Haslett

Adam Haslett
Haslett at the 2016 Texas Book Festival
Haslett at the 2016 Texas Book Festival
Born (1970-12-24) December 24, 1970 (age 53)
Rye, New York, U.S.
Occupation
  • Writer
  • journalist
EducationSwarthmore College (BA)
University of Iowa (MFA)
Yale University (JD)
GenreFiction
Notable worksImagine Me Gone (2016)
Notable awardsPEN/Malamud Award (2006)
Lambda Literary Award (2011)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (2016)
Website
www.adamhaslett.net

Adam Haslett (born December 24, 1970) is an American fiction writer and journalist.[1][2][3] His debut short story collection, You Are Not a Stranger Here, and his second novel, Imagine Me Gone, were both finalists for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.[2][4] He has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Academy in Berlin. In 2017, he won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.[4]

Early life

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Haslett was born in Rye, New York and raised in Massachusetts and Oxfordshire, England. After graduating from Wellesley High School, he went on to receive a B.A. in English from Swarthmore College, an M.F.A. in creative writing from Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and a J.D. from Yale University.

Career

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Haslett began his career as a writer with a fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He published his first short story, “Notes To My Biographer”, in Zoetrope Magazine. This is the first story in his debut collection, You Are Not A Stranger Here, which was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award and was a New York Times Bestseller. The book was noted chiefly for its depictions of mental illness[5] and “masterly sense of character.”[6]

In 2010, Haslett published his first novel, Union Atlantic, which centers on a conflict over a piece of land between a young banker and a retired school teacher who is offended by the banker's new mansion. The novel was finished the week that the 2008 financial crisis began, and is the portrait of the culture of impunity than led to the great recession.[7] It was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize and received the Lambda Literary Award.

His second novel, Imagine Me Gone, was published in 2016. It depicts a family coping with the intergenerational consequences of the father and eldest son's struggles with depression and anxiety.[8] It won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2019, Literary Hub named it one of the twenty best novels of the decade.[9]

In his journalism, Haslett has written about American politics,[10] the financial crisis,[11] and a range of cultural topics including gay marriage[12] in The New Yorker, Vogue, Esquire, Financial Times, The Guardian, and The Nation, among others.

He has been a visiting professor at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Columbia University.

Bibliography

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  • You Are Not a Stranger Here, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2002
  • Union Atlantic, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2010
  • Imagine Me Gone, Little, Brown, 2016[13]
  • Mothers and Sons, Little, Brown, 2024

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Wiegand, David (21 September 2002), "Profile: Adam Haslett", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 19 March 2010
  2. ^ a b Ellis, Sherry (March–April 2004), "Interview with Adam Haslett", Barcelona Review, retrieved 19 March 2010
  3. ^ "Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fiction Fellow, Class of Fall 2011". American Academy in Berlin. Archived from the original on 2012-12-29. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
  4. ^ a b Haslett, Adam (2017-06-27). Imagine Me Gone. Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316261364.
  5. ^ Seligman, Craig (2002-07-21). "I Can't Go On, I'll Go Nuts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  6. ^ Kakutani, Michiko (2002-06-28). "BOOKS OF THE TIMES; Behind Mental Illness, the Universal Sorrows of Life". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  7. ^ "'Union Atlantic' Author Banked On A Coming Crisis". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  8. ^ McAlpin, Heller (4 May 2016). "Unquiet Minds Make Absorbing Reading In 'Imagine Me Gone'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  9. ^ "The 20 Best Novels of the Decade". Literary Hub. 2019-11-19. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  10. ^ Haslett, Adam (2016-10-04). "Donald Trump, Shamer in Chief". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  11. ^ Haslett, Adam (2012-09-28). "Imaginary foe in the presidential election". The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  12. ^ Haslett, Adam (2004-05-24). "Love Supreme". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  13. ^ Briefly reviewed in the July 25, 2016 issue of The New Yorker, p.65.
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