Andrew Sean Greer (born November 21, 1970) is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

writer. Greer received the 2018

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...

for his novel ''

Less Less or LESS may refer to: Computing * less (Unix), a Unix utility program * Less (style sheet language), a dynamic style sheet language * Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS), a product development framework that extends Scrum Other uses * -less, a priv ...

''. 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'' and received a California Book Award.

Biography

Andrew Sean Greer was born in November 1970, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, the child of two scientists. He grew up in

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fourth ...

. He is an identical twin. He graduated from

Georgetown Day School Georgetown Day School (GDS) is an independent coeducational PK-12 school located in Washington, D.C. The school educates 1,075 elementary, middle, and high school students in northwestern Washington, D.C. Russell Shaw is the current Head of Sch ...

, and

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 ' ...

, where he studied with

Robert Coover Robert Lowell Coover (February 4, 1932 – October 5, 2024) was an American novelist, Short story, short story writer, and T. B. Stowell Professor Emeritus in Literary Arts at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation ...

and

Edmund White Edmund Valentine White III (January 13, 1940 – June 3, 2025) was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. A pioneering figure in LGBTQ and especially gay literature after the Stonewall riots, he wrote with ra ...

, and served as commencement speaker. He lives part-time in Italy. He is the author of six works of fiction. Greer taught at

Freie Universität Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

and the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

. He was a finalist for the Premio von Rezzori for a work translated into Italian, a ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'' pick, a New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellow, an NEA Fellow, and a judge for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

Work

Greer's stories have appeared in ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'', ''

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 new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', 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 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 ...

called it "enchanting, in the perfumed, dandified style of disenchantment brought to grandeur by Proust and Nabokov."

Mitch Albom Mitchell David Albom (born May 23, 1958) is an American author, journalist, and musician. As of 2021, he has sold 40 million books worldwide. Having achieved national recognition for sports writing in his early career, he turned to writing inspi ...

chose ''The Confessions of Max Tivoli'' for the ''Today Show'' Book Club, and it soon became a bestseller. 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

and the film ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button''. Greer's fourth book, ''The Story of a Marriage'', was published in 2008. ''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." ''The Washington Post'' called it "thoughtful, complex and exquisitely written." ''The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells'' was published in June 2013. His novel ''

'' was published in 2017 and received the 2018

. A follow-up, ''Less is Lost'', was published in 2022 and debuted on ''The New York Times'' Best Sellers list.

Awards and prizes

* Northern California Book Award * California Book Award *

Young Lions Fiction Award The Young Lions Fiction Award is an annual US literary prize of $10,000, awarded to a writer who is 35 years old or younger for a novel or collection of short stories. The award was established in 2001 by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick ...

2005 for ''The Confessions of Max Tivoli'' * Fellowships from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

and the New York Public Library * O. Henry Award for the short story "Darkness" * Fernanda Pivano Award 2014 for American Literature in Italy *

2018 for ''Less'' * PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award 2018 for ''Less''

Bibliography

Novels

* * * * * *

Short fiction collections

Stories

References

External links

Andrew Sean Greer website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greer, Andrew Sean 1970 births Living people 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American male writers American male novelists American male short story writers Brown University alumni American gay writers Identical twins American LGBTQ novelists Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners The New Yorker people American twins University of Montana alumni Writers from California Novelists from Washington, D.C. Georgetown Day School alumni 21st-century American LGBTQ people