Ian Frazier (born 1951 in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

) is an American writer and

humorist A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way. Henri Bergson writes that a humorist's work grows from viewing the morals of society ...

. He wrote the 1989 non-fiction history ''Great Plains'', 2010's non-fiction travelogue ''Travels in Siberia'', and works as a writer and humorist for ''

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 ...

''.

Biography

Frazier grew up in

Hudson, Ohio Hudson is a city in northern Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan area. John Brown made his first public vow to destroy slavery here and the ci ...

.Humorist Ian Frazier, who grew up in Hudson, Ohio, wins another Thurber award
. October 6, 2009. ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...

''. Retrieved via Cleveland.com, November 10, 2018. His father, David Frazier, was a chemist,"Ian Frazier." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2017. Retrieved via ''Biography In Context'' database, November 10, 2018. who worked for Sohio; his mother, Peggy, was a teacher, as well as an amateur actor and director, who performed in and directed plays in local Ohio theaters. He graduated from Western Reserve Academy in 1969 and from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1973.

Writing career

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' critic James Gorman described Frazier's 1996 humor collection ''Coyote v. Acme'' (in the title piece, Wile E. Coyote is suing

Acme Corporation The Acme Corporation is a fictional company, fictional corporation that features prominently in the ''Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote'' animated shorts as a running gag. The company manufactures outlandish product ...

, the manufacturer of products such as explosives and rocket-propelled devices purchased by the coyote to aid in hunting the Road Runner; these products always backfire disastrously) as the occasion for "irrepressible laughter in the reader". The story served as the basis for the film '' Coyote vs. Acme'', which was shelved and set for deletion by Warner Bros. Discovery. In March 2025, American independent film distributor Ketchup Entertainment acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the film, which is set for a theatrical release in 2026. Gorman rates Frazier's first collection, 1986's ''Dating Your Mom'', as "one of the best collections of humor ever published".

Awards

*1989: Whiting Award *1997: Thurber Prize for American Humor, for essay collection ''Coyote vs. Acme'' *2009: Thurber Prize for American Humor, for essay collection ''Lamentations of the Father''Hartig, Jean (2010). "Thurber House." ''Poets & Writers Magazine''. Vol. 38, no. 2. p. 133 f. Retrieved via ''Literature Resource Center'' database, November 10, 2018.

Bibliography

References

External links

*
Ian Frazier articles for Outside Magazine

Ian Frazier articles at Byliner

Ian Frazier on NPR for ''Travels in SIberia''

Ian Frazier at FSGProfile at The Whiting Foundation
*
Interview with Ian Frazier
on WFMU's "The Speakeasy with Dorian" ( RealAudio)
Review of ''Gone to New York''
* Select the RealAudio link b
"LAMENTATIONS OF A FATHER"
at time 28:42 to hear Ian Frazier read his "Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father" on the January 24, 1998 ''Prairie Home Companion'' broadcast. * The famous mock-legal complain

to which a lawyer made thi

* Lambert, Craig (September–October 2008)
"Seriously Funny: Ian Frazier combines an historian's discipline with an original comic mind"
'' Harvard Magazine''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Frazier, Ian 1951 births Living people 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American humorists American male non-fiction writers Journalists from Ohio Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters People from Hudson, Ohio The Harvard Lampoon alumni The New Yorker people The New Yorker staff writers Western Reserve Academy alumni Writers from Ohio