Joseph Kanon (born 1946) is an American author, best known for thriller and

spy novel Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

s set in the period immediately after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Early life

In 1946, Kanon was born in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, U.S.

Education

Kanon studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, and at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. As an undergraduate, he published his first stories in ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

''.

Career

Kanon was the editor in chief, CEO, and president of the publishing houses

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

and

E. P. Dutton E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group. Creator Edward Payson Dutton (January 4, ...

in New York. Kanon began his writing career in 1995. His first novel, ''Los Alamos'' (1997), became a bestseller and received the Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1998. Further novels followed, including ''The Prodigal Spy'', ''The Good German'' and ''Alibi''. His stories are set in the period between World War II and 1950, and he has often used a real event, such as the

Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris P ...

or the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

, as the background for a murder case. His novels are critically acclaimed, and reviewers from the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' and ''

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 d ...

'' have compared his work with the novels of

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

and

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

. A film based on ''

The Good German ''The Good German'' is a 2006 American neo-noir crime film. A film adaptation of Joseph Kanon's 2001 novel of the same name, it was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire. Set in Berlin followi ...

'' was produced in 2006, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. ''Istanbul Passage'' is a spy thriller set in that city in 1945. ''Leaving Berlin'' (2015) concerns an American expatriate who becomes an unwilling double agent of the American and East German intelligence services during the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949.

Personal life

Kanon is married to Robin Straus, a literary agent. They reside in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, New York.

Works

*''Los Alamos'' (1997) *''The Prodigal Spy'' (1998) *''The Good German'' (2001) *''Alibi'' (2005) *''Stardust'' (2009) *''Istanbul Passage'' (2012) *''Leaving Berlin'' (2014) *''Defectors'' (2017) *''The Accomplice'' (2019) *''The Berlin Exchange'' (2022)

References

External links

Official websiteMacMillan webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanon, Joseph 1946 births Living people American book editors American historical novelists 20th-century American novelists American spy fiction writers American thriller writers Edgar Award winners Harvard University alumni Writers from New York City Novelists from Pennsylvania Writers of historical mysteries 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American publishing chief executives 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state)