David Updike (born 1957) is an American writer and academic. Updike is the son of author

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

, who used him as a model for characters in several works of fiction, including ''Wife-wooing, Avec la Bebe-sitter, Son'', and ''Separating''. David Updike is the second child of John Updike and Mary Pennington (Updike) Weatherall. He grew up largely in

Ipswich, Massachusetts Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A res ...

, and graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1980 with an art history degree and from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1984 with an M.A.T.Will Broaddus
"Family territory: Updike's son to read from his short story collection in Salem
''Salem News,'' Sep 25, 2009 In 1978, Updike published the first of nine pieces in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''."David Updike"
goodreads.com In 1988, he published a collection of short stories, ''Out on the Marsh'', and he later published a four-piece set of young-adult books, ''A Winter Journey, An Autumn Tale, A Spring Story,'' and ''The Sounds of Summer''.David Updike: About the Author
MacMillan In 2006, he published a novel, ''Ivy's Turn'', about

interracial Interracial topics include: * Interracial marriage, marriage between two people of different races ** Interracial marriage in the United States *** 2009 Louisiana interracial marriage incident * Interracial adoption, placing a child of one raci ...

relationships in the 1990s and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. In 2009, Updike published another collection of short stories, ''Old Girlfriends''.Jim Concannon
"His own man,"
''The Boston Globe,'' July 21, 2009 In addition to his pieces in ''

'', Updike has published short stories in ''Epiphany, Sargasso,

Harper's ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

,'' and ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine 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 magazi ...

''. He provided the photographs for his father's children's book, ''A Helpful Alphabet of Friendly Objects''. Updike has taught creative writing at M.I.T. and is a professor of English at Roxbury Community College. His wife, Wambui, is a native of

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, and they live in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. Updike considers his literary career more similar to that of his grandmother,

Linda Grace Hoyer Updike Linda Grace Hoyer Updike (1904–1989) was an American writer from Plowville, Pennsylvania. She was the mother of writer John Updike and grandmother of writer David Updike. Linda Updike also served as the model for several of her son's character ...

, than to his father's.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Updike, David American writers People from Ipswich, Massachusetts Teachers College, Columbia University alumni Harvard College alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty 1957 births Living people