Andrew Sean Greer (born November 21, 1970) is an American novelist and short story writer.[1] Greer received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel Less. He is the author of The Story of a Marriage, which The New York Times has called an "inspired, lyrical novel", and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, which was named one of the best books of 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle[2] and received a California Book Award.[3]

Andrew Sean Greer
Greer at the Pulitzer Prizes ceremony, 2018
Greer at the Pulitzer Prizes ceremony, 2018
Born (1970-11-21) November 21, 1970 (age 53)
Washington D.C., U.S.
OccupationNovelist
EducationBrown University (BA)
University of Montana (MFA)
GenreFiction
Years active2001–present
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for Fiction (2018)
Website
andrewgreer.com

Biography edit

Andrew Sean Greer was born in November 1970, in Washington, D.C., the child of two scientists.[4] He grew up in Rockville, Maryland. He is an identical twin. He graduated from Georgetown Day School, and Brown University, where he studied with Robert Coover and Edmund White, and served as commencement speaker.[5] He lives part-time in Italy.[6]

He is the author of six works of fiction.[7] Greer taught at Freie Universität Berlin[8] and the Iowa Writers' Workshop.[9] He was a finalist for the Premio von Rezzori for a work translated into Italian,[10] as well as a Today Show pick,[11] a New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellow,[12] an NEA Fellow,[13] and a judge for the National Book Award.[14]

Work edit

Greer's stories have appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, The New Yorker, and other national publications. They have been anthologized in The Book of Other People and The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009.

His third book, The Confessions of Max Tivoli, was released in 2004; a New Yorker piece by John Updike called it "enchanting, in the perfumed, dandified style of disenchantment brought to grandeur by Proust and Nabokov."[15] Mitch Albom chose The Confessions of Max Tivoli for the Today Show Book Club and it soon became a bestseller.[16] The story of a man aging backwards, it was inspired by the Bob Dylan song "My Back Pages." It is similar in theme to the Fitzgerald short story and the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.[citation needed]

Greer's fourth book The Story of a Marriage was published in 2008.[17] The New York Times said of it: "Mr. Greer seamlessly choreographs an intricate narrative that speaks authentically to the longings and desires of his characters. All the while he never strays from the convincing and steady voice of Pearlie."[18] The Washington Post called it "thoughtful, complex and exquisitely written."[19]

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells was published in June 2013.[20]

His novel Less was published in 2017[21] and received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A follow-up, Less is Lost, was published in 2022 and debuted on The New York Times Best Sellers list.[22][23]

Awards and prizes edit

Bibliography edit

Novels edit

  • The Path of Minor Planets: A Novel (2001) ISBN 9780312275563
  • The Confessions of Max Tivoli (2004) ISBN 978-0-312-42381-0
  • The Story of a Marriage (2008)[25] ISBN 978-0-312-42828-0
  • The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells (2013) ISBN 978-0-062-21378-5
  • Less: A Novel (2017) ISBN 9780316316125[26]
  • Less Is Lost (2022) ISBN 9780316498906

Short fiction edit

Collections
Stories[27]
Title Year First published Reprinted/collected Notes
"It's a summer day" 2017 Greer, Andrew Sean (June 19, 2017). "It's a summer day". The New Yorker. Vol. 93, no. 17. pp. 54–60.

References edit

  1. ^ Books, Used, New, and Out of Print Books - We Buy and Sell - Powell's. "Powell's Books". www.Powells.com. Retrieved January 3, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Villalon, Oscar (December 12, 2004). "The year's finest". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  3. ^ Benson, Heidi (May 16, 2005). "Max Tivoli author wins California Book Award". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  4. ^ Greer, Andrew. "Andrew Sean Greer Bio". Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  5. ^ Gussow, Mel (March 30, 2004). "A Character In Reverse, An Author In the Clouds". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  6. ^ "Rockville Native Andrew Sean Greer on the Local Origins of His Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel". June 2018.
  7. ^ Greer, Andrew Sean (June 27, 2017). Less. Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316316125. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "Greer, Andrew Sean". www.GeistesWissenschaften.FU-Berlin.de. October 8, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  9. ^ "Andrew Sean Greer - Iowa Writers' Workshop - College of Liberal Arts & Sciences - The University of Iowa". WritersWorkshop.UIowa.edu. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  10. ^ "Festival". Festival degli Scrittori - Premio Gregor von Rezzori. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  11. ^ "Taking 'time' to find your life love". TODAY. April 21, 2004.
  12. ^ "Andrew Sean Greer, Julie Orringer, and Lore Segal". The New York Public Library. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  13. ^ "Andrew Sean Greer - NEA". www.Arts.gov. Archived from the original on April 12, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  14. ^ "2007 National Book Awards Winners and Finalists, The National Book Foundation". www.NationalBook.org. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  15. ^ Updike, John (January 26, 2004). "Mind/Body Problems". The New Yorker.
  16. ^ George, Lynell (May 11, 2008). "Secrets that live in the Sunset". Los Angeles Times.
  17. ^ "The Story of a Marriage". Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  18. ^ Walsh, Kirk (April 23, 2008). "Amid Social Shifts, a Wife of the '50s Tries to Piece Together Her Shattered World". The New York Times.
  19. ^ See, Carolyn (May 9, 2008). "What We Do for Love". The Washington Post.
  20. ^ "The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells". HarperCollins Publishers.
  21. ^ "Lee Boudreaux Books - LESS by Andrew Sean Greer". www.LeeBoudreauxBooks.com. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  22. ^ "Hardcover Fiction Books - Best Sellers - Books - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  23. ^ Alter, Alexandra (September 13, 2022). "His Pulitzer-Winning Comedy Broke the Rules. He's at It Again". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 13, 2022. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  24. ^ "The O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 - Winning Stories", the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories
  25. ^ "The Story of a Marriage - Andrew Sean Greer - Macmillan". Macmillan.com. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  26. ^ Greer, Andrew Sean (June 27, 2017). Less. Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316316149. Retrieved January 8, 2018. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  27. ^ Short stories unless otherwise noted.

External links edit