Ethan Andrew Canin (born July 19, 1960) is an American author, educator, and

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

. He is a member of the faculty of 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 ...

at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

. Canin was born in

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, while his parents were vacationing from

Iowa City Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-most populous city. The Iowa City metropolitan area, which enc ...

, where his father, Stuart Canin, taught violin at the

. He and his family moved around the midwestern and northeastern United States, and eventually settled in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where he attended Town School and later graduated from San Francisco University High School. He attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and earned an

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...

in English. Returning to the University of Iowa, Canin entered the

, receiving an MFA in 1984, and went on to attend

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

, where he earned an

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

in 1991. Beginning his medical practice with a residency at the

University of California San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

, he pursued both medicine and writing for several years, leaving medicine in 1995 to join the faculty of the

, where he still teaches. He is a co-founder of the San Francisco Writers Grotto. Canin is married with three daughters.

Awards

*The Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship (1986) *Henfield/Transatlantic Review Prize (1987) *The California Book Award/Gold Medal in Literature (1994) *The Lyndhurst Prize (1994–1996) *

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 ...

Fellowship (1987 & 1996) *

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

(2010)

Writing

Short story collections

*''Emperor of the Air'' (1985) *''The Palace Thief'' (1994)

Novels

*''Blue River'' (1992) Time Warner International *'' For Kings and Planets'' (1999) Saint Martin's press Inc. *'' Carry Me Across the Water'' (2001) Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. *''America America'' (2009) Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. *''A Doubter's Almanac: A Novel'' (2016) Random House

Filmography

Several of Canin's novels and short stories have been adapted for film.

Short films

*''Emperor of the Air'' (1996) dir.

Ali Selim Ali Selim (born 1960/1961) is an American film and television director. Over the past fifteen years he has directed over 850 television commercials, five half-hour documentaries and several music videos. Early life Selim was born in Saint Paul, ...

Feature films

*'' Blue River'' (1995) dir. Larry Elikann, based on the novel of the same name *''

The Emperor's Club ''The Emperor's Club'' is a 2002 American drama film directed by Michael Hoffman and starring Kevin Kline. Based on Ethan Canin's 1994 short story "The Palace Thief", the film follows a prep school teacher and his students at a fictional Eas ...

'' (2002) dir. Michael Hoffman, based on the 1994 short story "The Palace Thief" *''

Beautiful Ohio "Beautiful Ohio" is the regional anthem of the U.S. state of Ohio, adopted in 1969 as the official state song. History The first lyrics were written in 1918 by Ballard MacDonald and the music by Robert A. "Bobo" King, who used the pseudonym Ma ...

'' (2006) dir.

Chad Lowe Charles Davis Lowe II (born January 15, 1968) is an American actor and director. He is the younger brother of actor Rob Lowe. He won an Emmy Award for his supporting role in '' Life Goes On'' as a young man living with HIV. He has had recurrin ...

, based on the 1994 short story "Batorsag and Szerelem" *'' The Year of Getting to Know Us'' (2008) dir. Patrick Sisam, based on the 1988 story "Star Food" and the 1987 story "The Year of Getting to Know Us"

References

Notes

External links

Ethan Canin's Official Web Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Canin, Ethan 20th-century American novelists Physicians from Iowa University of Iowa alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Writers from Ann Arbor, Michigan Writers from San Francisco Stanford University alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty 1960 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American male novelists University of California, San Francisco alumni 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Michigan Novelists from Iowa