Amor Towles (born 1964) is an American novelist. He is best known for his bestselling novels ''Rules of Civility'' (2011), ''

A Gentleman in Moscow ''A Gentleman in Moscow'' is a 2016 novel by Amor Towles. It is his second novel, published five years after his '' New York Times'' best seller, ''Rules of Civility'' (2011). Background The protagonist is the fictional Count Alexander Ilyic ...

'' (2016), and ''The Lincoln Highway'' (2021).

Early life and education

Towles was born and raised in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts. He graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

and received an M.A. in English from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

, where he was a Scowcroft Fellow. When Towles was 10 years old, he threw a bottle with a message into the Atlantic Ocean. Several weeks later, he received a letter from

Harrison Salisbury Harrison Evans Salisbury (November 14, 1908 – July 5, 1993), was an American journalist and the first regular '' New York Times'' correspondent in Moscow after World War II. Biography Salisbury was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He ...

, who was then the managing editor of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Towles and Salisbury corresponded for many years afterward.

Career

After graduating from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

, Towles was set to teach in China on a two-year fellowship from the Yale China Association. However, this was abruptly canceled due to the

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square (; 天安门广场; Pinyin: ''Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng''; Wade–Giles: ''Tʻien1-an1-mên2 Kuang3-chʻang3'') is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the eponymous Tiananm ...

crackdown in 1989. From 1991–2012, he worked as an investment manager and director of research at Select Equity Group in New York. When Towles was a young man, he credited

Peter Matthiessen Peter Matthiessen (May 22, 1927 – April 5, 2014) was an American novelist, naturalist, wilderness writer, zen teacher and CIA Operative. A co-founder of the literary magazine ''The Paris Review'', he was the only writer to have won the Nation ...

, renowned nature writer, novelist, and one of the founders of ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phi ...

'', as the primary inspiration for writing novels. Towles' first novel, ''Rules of Civility'', was successful beyond his expectations, so much so that proceeds from the book afforded him the luxury of retirement from investment banking and the opportunity to pursue writing full time. His second novel, ''

'', which was on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list for 59 weeks, was a finalist for the 2016 Kirkus Prize for Fiction. It was also longlisted for the 2018

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

. A television series based on the novel and starring

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...

is scheduled to begin production in late 2022. Towles' third novel, ''The Lincoln Highway'', was published on October 5, 2021. It was chosen by Amazon as the best book of 2021. As of May 15, 2022, it had been on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list for 30 weeks.

Personal life

Towles resides in

Gramercy Park Gramercy ParkSometimes misspelled as Grammercy () is the name of both a small, fenced-in private park and the surrounding neighborhood that is referred to also as Gramercy, in the New York City borough of Manhattan in New York, United States. ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York City, with his wife Maggie, their son Stokley, and their daughter Esmé. Towles is a collector of fine art and antiques.

Awards and honors

* 2016 Finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction

Works

Fiction

* * * * *

Essays

* "Channel a More Romantic Era of Transatlantic Travel" (2016)

References

External links

Amor Towles official author website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Towles, Amor 1964 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American male novelists People from Gramercy Park Writers from Boston Yale College alumni Stanford University alumni 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Novelists from Massachusetts