Ben Dolnick (born 1982) is an American

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and author of the

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s ''Zoology'' (2007), ''You Know Who You Are'' (2011), and ''At the Bottom of Everything: A Novel'' (2013).

Life

Ben Dolnick was born and raised in

Chevy Chase, Maryland Chevy Chase () is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place (Chevy Chase (CDP), Maryland) that straddle the northwest border of Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Several settlements in th ...

. He is the son of Lynn Iphigene (née Golden) and

Edward Dolnick Edward Ishmael Dolnick (born November 10, 1952) is an American writer, formerly a science writer at the ''Boston Globe''. He has been published in '' Atlantic Monthly'', ''The New York Times Magazine'', and ''The Washington Post'', among other pub ...

; and a nephew of

Arthur Golden Arthur Sulzberger Golden (born December 6, 1956) is an American writer. He is the author of the bestselling novel ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' (1997). Early life Golden was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the son of Ruth (née Sulzberger) and Ben ...

, author of ''

Memoirs of a Geisha ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' is a historical fiction novel by American author Arthur Golden, published in 1997. The novel, told in first person perspective, tells the story of Nitta Sayuri and the many trials she faces on the path to becoming and wo ...

''. Through his mother's side he is a member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family, publishers 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 ...

''.New York Magazine: "Children of the Times - Who’s who in the Ochs-Sulzberger clan"
retrieved September 27, 2015 He attended

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 went on to receive his undergraduate degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and has worked as a "

zookeeper A zookeeper, sometimes referred as animal keeper, is a person who manages zoo animals that are kept in captivity for conservation or to be displayed to the public.Hurwitz, Jane. Choosing a Career in Animal Care (World of Work). New York: Rosen Gr ...

" at the

Central Park Zoo The Central Park Zoo is a zoo located at the southeast corner of Central Park in New York City. It is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In conjunction with the Central ...

. He currently lives in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. The ''New York Times'' has been criticized for printing an article by Dolnick, promoting his novels, without taking into account the

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

resulting from his mother being on the paper's board of directors.

Works

* * * *'' The Ghost Notebooks'', 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolnick, Ben 1982 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American male novelists Columbia College (New York) alumni Sulzberger family 21st-century American male writers Writers from Brooklyn Georgetown Day School alumni