Nationality: Canadian. Born: London, Ontario. Education: University of Western Ontario. Career: Teacher of English, Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Toronto, 1961-68; writer-in-residence, University of Waterloo, 1982-83. Founding member, Book and Periodical Development Council, 1975, chair, 1976, executive director, 1977. Awards: Scottish Canadian Exchange fellowship, 1978. Member: Amnesty Interna…
Nationality: American. Born: Conway, South Carolina, 1948. Education: University of British Columbia, B.A. 1977. Awards: Hugo award, Philadelphia Science Fiction Society Philip K. Dick memorial award, Nebula award, Porgie award, all 1985, and Australian Science Fiction Convention Ditmar award, all for Neuromancer. Agent: Martha Millard Literary Agency, 293 Greenwood Avenue, Florham Park, New Jerse…
Nationality: American. Born: Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1935. Education: Vanderbilt University, Nashville; Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, B.A. in philosophy 1967; University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, 1976. Has three sons. Career: Broadcaster on National Public Radio 1984-85; also journalist. Awards: Mississippi Arts Festival poetry award, 1968; New York Quarterly award, for poetry, 1978; Na…
Nationality: British. Born: London, 1931. Education: Newlands School; Charterhouse School, Surrey, 1945-49. Career: Literary adviser, Bodley Head, publishers, London, 1958-62. Since 1958 sportswriter for the Sunday Times, London. Awards: Berlin Film Festival award, for documentary, 1963; British Film Academy award, for documentary, 1967; Thomas Coward Memorial award, 1969; Sports Council Reporter …
Nationality: Canadian. Born: Simloe, Ontario, 1948. Education: York University, Toronto, 1966-69, B.A. in philosophy; University of Edinburgh, 1969-71, M. Litt. in philosophy; University of Iowa, Iowa City, 1980-82, M.F.A. in creative writing. Career: Lecturer in philosophy, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, 1971; reporter, The Evening Times-Globe, Saint John, New Brunswick, 1972; reporter,…
Nationality: American. Born: Birmingham, Alabama, 1937. Education: Peace Junior College, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1955-57; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1957-59, B.A. in journalism 1959; University of Iowa, Iowa City, 1967-71, M.A. 1968, Ph.D. in English 1971. Career: Reporter, Miami Herald, 1959-60; consultant, U.S. Travel Service, United States Embassy, London, 1962-65; researcher, …
Nationality: American. Born: Cleveland, Ohio, 1924. Education: Columbia University, New York, B.A. 1946, M.A. 1948; the Sorbonne, Paris (Fulbright scholar), 1949-51. Military Service: Served in the United States Army, 1943-46. Career: lecturer in philosophy and literature, Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 1951-53; lecturer in English, Wayne State University, Detroit, 1954-56. Visiting profes…
Nationality: American. Born: Chicago, Illinois, 1931; brother of the writer James Goldman. Education: Highland Park High School; Oberlin College, Ohio, 1948-52, B.A. in English 1952; Columbia University, New York, 1954-56, M.A. in English 1956. Military Service: Served in the United States Army, 1952-54: Corporal. Awards: Oscar, for screenplay, 1970, 1977. William Goldman is a successful novelist…
Nationality: South African. Born: Springs, Transvaal, 1923. Education: A convent school, and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Career: Visiting lecturer, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Washington, D.C., 1961, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1969, Princeton University, New Jersey, 1969, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 1969, and University of Michigan, Ann…
Nationality: British. Born: Edinburgh, 1940. Education: Edinburgh Academy, 1948-57. Career: Advertising executive, Secker and Warburg, publishers, London, 1962-63; editor, Hutchinson Publishing Group, London, 1963-64, and Penguin Books, London, 1964-66; editorial director, Victor Gollancz, publishers, London, 1967-72. Since 1972 partner, Anthony Sheil Associates, literary agents, London. Lecturer …
Nationality: American. Born: Long Island, New York, 1949. Education: Holy Name of Mary School, Valley Stream, New York; Mary Louis Academy; Barnard College, New York, B.A. 1971; Syracuse University, New York, M.A. 1973. Career: English teacher, Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1974-78; lecturer, Amherst College, Massachusetts, 1979. Awards: Janet Kafka prize, 1979, 1982. For Ma…
Nationality: Canadian. Born: Phyllis Fay Bloom in Toronto, Canada, 1926. Education: University of Toronto, B.A. 1948, M.A. 1950. Address: 29 Ridgevale Drive, Toronto, Ontario M6A 1K9, Canada. When most of us approach a text, we expect that it will give us something concrete and that we will be able to uncover that offering through a process that has a distinct beginning and end, as well as a logic…
Nationality: American. Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1929. Education: Girard College, Philadelphia; University of Pittsburgh, B.A. in economics 1953. Career: Held a variety of jobs, including reporter on various newspapers, in Pennsylvania and Maryland, until 1961. His trilogy, One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding, Here Goes Kitten, and J.C. Saves, captures in two characters relations between …
Nationality: New Zealander. Born: Wellington in 1937. Education: Green Street Convent, Newtown, Wellington; St. Mary's College; Wellington Teachers' College. Career: Has taught in primary and secondary schools in King Country, Northland, and Porirua. Awards: Maori Purposes Fund Board grant, 1974; New Zealand Literature Fund grant, 1975, 1983; Hubert Church Prose award, 1976; Children…
Nationality: British. Born: Victoria Park, Manchester, 1910. Career: Chair, Society of Authors, London, 1967-69. Awards: Crime Writers Association prize, 1956. Fellow, Royal Society of Literature, 1968. O.B.E. (Officer, Order of the British Empire), 1983. Agent: A.M. Heath, 79 St. Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4AA. I look on myself simply as a novelist. I have written—always—wha…
Nationality: American. Born: New Orleans, Louisiana, 1930. Education: Booth School, Montgomery, Alabama, 1938-45; Ursuline Academy, New Orleans, 1945-46; Sophie Newcomb College, Tulane University, New Orleans (associate editor, Carnival; Lazarus Memorial medal, 1949), 1946-50, B.A. 1950 (Phi Beta Kappa); graduate study, Tulane University, 1950-51. Career: Creative writing teacher, University of Ne…
Nationality: Scottish. Born: Glasgow, 1934. Education: Whitehill Senior Secondary School, 1946-52; Glasgow Art School (Bellahouston traveling scholarship, 1957), 1952-57, diploma in mural painting and design 1957. Career: Art teacher, Lanarkshire and Glasgow, 1958-61; scene painter, Pavilion and Citizens' theaters, Glasgow, 1961-63; freelance painter and writer, Glasgow, 1963-76; artist rec…
Nationality: South African. Born: Cape Town, South Africa, 1941. Education: St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown; University of Cape Town; Cambridge University, B.A. in English, M.A. in English; University of Iowa, M.F.A. in creative writing; Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, D. Litt and d. Phil., 1978. Career: Lecturer in English, Aix-en-Provence, two years; professor of English, Rand …
Pseudonym: Hannah Green. Nationality: American. Born: Brooklyn, New York, 1932. Education: American University, Washington, D.C., B.A. Career: Medical officer, Lookout Mountain Fire Department; certified emergency medical technican. Since 1983, adjunct professor of anthropology, Colorado School of Mines, Golden. Awards: Frieda Fromm-Reichman memorial award, 1967; National Jewish Welfare Board Harr…
Nationality: Australian. Born: Kate Gee in Sydney, Australia, 1950. Education: University of Sydney, B.A. 1972; University of Colorado, M.A. 1982. Career: Arts administrator, Australia Council, Sydney, 1973-74; documentary film production assistant, Film Australia, Sydney; freelance film editor and writer, London, 1974-80; subtitle editor, Multicultural TV, Sydney, 1983-85; instructor in writing, …
Nationality: American. Born: Jonesboro, Arkansas, 1955. Education: Mississippi State University, B.S. in accounting 1977; University of Mississippi, LL.D in 1981. Career: Practiced law, Southaven, Mississippi, 1981-91; member Mississippi House of Representatives, 1984-90. John Grisham hit the best-seller lists as a kind of publishing phenomenon, a blockbuster novelist whose books are instant hits…
Nationality: American. Born: Washington, D.C., 1943. Education: University of Alabama, A.B. 1965. Military Service: U.S. Army, 1965-67: served in Vietnam, became captain. Career: Reporter and later columnist, Washington Star, Washington, D.C., 1967-76; full-time novelist, 1976—. Awards: Best fiction award (Southern Library Association), 1980. Agent: Theron Raines, Raines & Raines, 71…
Nationality: American. Born: New York City, 1918. Education: Washington Square College, A.B. 1939; Cornell University, M.A. 1940. Military Service: U.S. Navy WAVES. Career: Title writer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, New York City, 1940-41; proofreader and copyeditor, Time, Inc., 1941-42; associate editor of Architectural Forum, 1942-43; English teacher at Albany Academy for Girls, Rochester, New York, …
Nationality: American. Born: Houston, Texas, 1914. Education: Stanford University, California, B.A. 1934, Ph.D. 1938; Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, M.A. 1936. Military Service: Served in the Psychological Warfare Branch of the United States Army, 1943-45: Technical Sergeant. Career: Instructor in English, Amherst College, Massachusetts, 1935-36; instructor, assistant professor, and…
Nationality: British (originally Sri Lankan, immigrated to England). Awards: Rathbone prize for philosophy, University of Liverpool, 1976; Writers' Bursary, Arts Council, London, 1991; Yorkshire Post Best First Work award, 1995. On a photo depicting "India's leading novelists" that was printed in a 1997 special issue of the New Yorker on the occasion of the fiftieth ann…
Nationality: Indian. Born: Calcutta, India, 1965. Education: Princeton University, A.B. 1987; London University, Ph.D. 1992. Career: Research assistant, Department of Biology, Imperial College, London, 1988-89, principal investigator for grant, 1989-92; Wellcome Training Fellow in mathematical biology, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, England, 1992-95; junior research fellow, Merton Co…
Nationality: American. Born: Rocky Mount, North Carolina, 1947. Education: Rocky Mount Senior High, 1965; Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, 1965-66; Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, 1970-72. Military Service: United States Navy, 1966-70. Career: Desk clerk and salesperson of art reproductions, 1969-70; night watchman in a vitamin factory, 1970-72; professor of fiction writing, Univer…
Nationality: English. Born: Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania), 1948. Education: Earned a Ph.D. Career: Worked as a hospital orderly; lecturer in English and American literature, Rutherford College, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, England. Abdulrazak Gurnah, born in Zanzibar, had already acquired a reputation as a scholar and critic of African literature and published three novels set in the i…
Nationality: American. Born: Seattle, Washington, 1956. Education: University of Washington, B.A. 1978, M.A. 1982. Career: High school English teacher, Bainbridge Island, Washington, 1984—. Agent: Georges Borchardt, Inc., 136 East 57th Street, New York, New York 10020, U.S.A. David Guterson acknowledges that a few of his early short stories owe a debt to the basic, naturalistic style of Ray…
Nationality: British and Canadian. Born: Luton, Bedfordshire, 1920; emigrated to Canada in 1947: became citizen, 1952. Education: Elementary schools in England. Military Service: Served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, 1939-47: Flight Lieutenant. Career: Office boy and clerk, London, 1934-39; assistant editor, 1947-49, and editor, 1949-53, Bus and Truck Transport, Toronto; sales promotion manage…
Nationality: New Zealander (originally English: immigrated to Australia, 1961, then to New Zealand, 1966). Born: Dewsbury, England, 1934. Education: University of Auckland, M.A. in English, 1970. The Sauna Bath Mysteries and Other Stories established Russell Haley's reputation as a pioneering writer of postmodernist experimental fiction with affinities with writers such as Nabakov, Beckett…
Nationality: American. Born: Midland, Ohio, 1918. Education: Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 1938-39; University of Hawaii, Honolulu, 1938-40; University of Iowa, Iowa City, B.A. 1947, M.A. 1948, Ph.D. 1953; Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, 1949. Military Service: United States Army, 1941-46. Career: Writer-in-residence, Miami University, 1948-49; instructor, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 19…
Nationality: Australian. Born: Solihull, Warwickshire, England, 1935; immigrated to Australia during his childhood. Education: City of Bath Boys' School; Brisbane Boys' College; University of Queensland, Brisbane, B.A. 1971. Career: Freelance scriptwriter and actor, 1957-67, and film critic, 1966-67, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Brisbane. Tutor, New England University School …
Nationality: Australian. Born: Marion Mildred Crothall, Newcastle, New South Wales, 1940. Education: University College, 1957-62, B.A.(honours) in education 1962. Career: Teacher, Canberra High School, Australian Capital Territory, 1963-65, Canberra Church of England Girls' Grammar School, 1974-86. Since 1993, chair of literature, Board of Australia Council. Writer-in-residence, Charles Stu…
Nationality: Irish. Born: Hugo O'Urmoltaigh in Dublin, Ireland, 1953. Career: Worked in the music business; freelance journalist, Dublin. Lives in County Dublin, Ireland. Awards: Rooney prize for Irish Literature, 1992. Agent: Derek Johns, 20 John Street, London WC1N 2DR, England. Hugo Hamilton was born in 1953 of Irish-German parentage. He grew up with three languages—Irish, English…