Reif Larsen (born 1980) is an American author, known for '' The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet'', for which '' Vanity Fair'' claimed Larsen received just under a million dollars as an advance from

Penguin Press Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initiall ...

following a bidding war between ten publishing houses.

Life

Larsen was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Both his parents were artists. He graduated from

Milton Academy Milton Academy (informally referred to as Milton) is a coeducational, co-educational, Independent school, independent, and College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts, educating students in g ...

in 1998 and then went on to

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

and

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 ...

. He holds an M.F.A in fiction. He has also made films in the United States, the United Kingdom and the sub-Saharan desert. He currently is living in New York.

Works

Larsen's debut novel, ''The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet'', was adapted into a 2013 film entitled ''

The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet ''The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet'' is a 2013 Adventure film, adventure Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and co-written with Guillaume Laurant, an adaptation of the 2009 book ''The Selected Works of T.& ...

'' by director

Jean-Pierre Jeunet Jean-Pierre Jeunet (; born 3 September 1953) is a French film director and screenwriter. His films combine fantasy, realism, and science fiction to create idealized realities or to give relevance to mundane situations. Jeunet debuted as a direc ...

. His second novel, ''I Am Radar,'' appeared in 2015. Like Larsen's debut, the book is an example of

ergodic literature Ergodic literature is a term neologism, coined by Espen J. Aarseth in his 1997 book ''Cybertext—Perspectives on Ergodic Literature'' to describe literature in which nontrivial effort is required for the reader to traverse the text. The term ...

, including diagrams and footnotes within the text. He has also authored two children's books.

Style

Larsen has cited Mark Danielewski, W.G. Sebald and

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

as influences. Larsen's work incorporates illustrations, diagrams, and footnotes within the text.

Bibliography

*'' The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet'' (2009) * '' I Am Radar'' (2015) * ''The Path'' (children's book, 2021) * ''Una Wimple Charts Her House'' (children's book, 2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Larsen, Reif Living people 1980 births 21st-century American novelists American male novelists Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts Milton Academy alumni Brown University alumni Columbia University alumni 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Massachusetts