Jesse Ball
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Jesse Ball (born June 7, 1978) 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
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
. He has published novels, volumes of poetry, short stories, and drawings. His works are distinguished by the use of a spare style and have been compared to those of
Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...
and
Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, ; ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian novelist and short story writer. His best-known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosm ...
.


Early life and education

Ball was born into a middle-class, English-speaking Irish-Sicilian family in Port Jefferson, New York, on Long Island. Ball's father worked in Medicaid; his mother worked in libraries. His brother, Abram, was born with Down's syndrome and attended a school some distance from the place where they lived. Ball attended Port Jefferson High School, and matriculated at
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...
. Following Vassar, Ball attended
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
, where he earned an MFA and met the poet Richard Howard. Howard helped the then 24-year-old poet publish his first volume, '' March Book'', with
Grove Press Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United S ...
.


Career

In 2007 and 2008, Ball published ''Samedi the Deafness'' and the novella ''The Early Deaths of Lubeck, Brennan, Harp & Carr.'' The latter won the '' Paris Reviews Plimpton Prize. These were followed in 2009 by ''The Way Through Doors'', and in 2011, ''The Curfew'', whose style ''
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 ...
'' described as " yingat some oscillating coordinate between
Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of real ...
and Calvino: swift, intense fables composed of equal parts wonder and dread." Ball's 2014 book ''Silence Once Begun'' was reviewed by James Wood in ''The New Yorker'' in February 2014. In 2015, he was a finalist for the NYPL Young Lion Prize (also for ''Silence Once Begun)''. Later that year, he published ''A Cure for Suicide'', which was long-listed 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. ...
. In 2017, ''
Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...
'' included him on their list of Best Young American Novelists. On June 30 of that year Ball published an opinion piece in the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' suggesting that all American citizens be incarcerated periodically, as a civic duty. The article likens this incarceration to already existing jury duty and states that no one, not even sitting politicians, judges or military officers would be free from it. Ball's ''The Divers' Game'' was included on ''The New Yorker'''s Best Books of 2019 list. Staff writer Katy Waldman writes, "This dystopic fable imagines a society riven in two, with the upper class empowered to murder members of the lower class, for any reason." Ball is represented by Jim Rutman of Sterling Lord Literistic.


Personal life

In Iceland, Ball met Thordis Bjornsdottir, a poet and author who he collaborated with on two books, married, and later divorced. Ball and the writer Catherine Lacey were partners from 2016 to 2021. Ball married Amalia Wiatr Lewis in October of 2024. Ball has lived since 2007 in Chicago. For nearly twenty years, he was on the faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he taught courses on lying, ambiguity, dreaming, and walking. In 2024 he became the inaugural Sydney Blair Memorial Professor of Creative Writing and English at the University of Virginia.


Works


Poetry

* '' March Book''. Verse. (New York, NY: Grove Press, 2004) * ''The Village on Horseback: Prose and Verse, 2003–2008'' (Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2011)


Novels

* '' Samedi the Deafness.'' Novel. (New York: Vintage, 2007) * ''The Way Through Doors.'' Novel. (New York: Vintage, 2009) * '' The Curfew.'' Novel. (New York: Vintage, 2011) * ''Silence Once Begun.'' Novel. (New York: Pantheon, 2014) * ''A Cure for Suicide.'' Novel. (New York: Pantheon, 2015) * ''How to Set a Fire and Why.'' Novel. (New York: Pantheon, 2016) * ''Census.'' Novel. (New York: Ecco, 2018) * ''The Divers' Game.'' Novel. (New York: Ecco, 2019) * ''The Children VI.'' Novel. (Buenos Aires: Editorial Sigilo 2022) * ''The Repeat Room''. Novel. (New York: Catapult, 2024)


Short fiction

* ''Vera & Linus''. Stories. With Thórdís Björnsdóttir. (Reykjavík: Nyhil, 2006) * ''Parables & Lies.'' Prose. (Lincoln, NE: The Cupboard Pamphlet, 2007). Also included in ''The Village on Horseback: Prose and Verse, 2003-2008''. * ''Pieter Emily''. Novella serialized in '' Guernica'' (2009). Also included in ''The Village on Horseback: Prose and Verse, 2003-2008''. * ''The Lesson.'' Novella. (New York: Vintage, 2016) * ''Deaths of Henry King.'' Stories. With Brian Evenson, Lilli Carré. (New York: Uncivilized, 2017)


Nonfiction

* ''Notes on My Dunce Cap.'' Nonfiction. (Brooklyn: Pioneer Works Press, 2016) * ''Sleep, Death's Brother.'' Nonfiction. (Brooklyn: Pioneer Works Press, 2017)


Memoir

* ''Autoportrait.'' Memoir. (Catapult, 2022)


Drawings

* ''Og svo kom nóttin'', Drawings. With Thórdís Björnsdóttir. (Reykjavík: Nyhil, 2006)


Awards and honors


Honors

*
Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has co ...
Award, 2016 *
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 ...
, 2016 * ''Granta'' Best of Young American Novelists, 2017 * Berlin Prize, American Academy in Berlin, 2018, for the novel, ''The Children Six'' * The Illinois Author of the Year for 2015: Illinois Association of Teachers of English *
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 ...
Creative Writing Fellowship, 2014


Literary awards

* Longlisted for the 2015
National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987, the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, bu ...
, ''A Cure for Suicide'' * The Plimpton Prize for the story '' The Early Deaths of Lubeck, Brennan, Harp, and Carr'', 2008 * 2018 Gordon Burn Prize for ''Census''


Notes


References

* ''The New Yorker'': "But He Confessed." Review of Silence Once Begun. February 2014. * ''Publishers Weekly'': Review of Vera & Linus. October 2006. * ''Reykjavik Grapevine'', "A Deep Strong Hope in Its Core" Profiled with Thordis Bjornsdottir following publication of Vera & Linus. Issue 15, 22 September—5 October 2006. * ''Frettabladid'', "Natturulega skaldleg saelstilling" Interview with Thordis Bjornsdottir following publication of Vera & Linus, 9 September 2006. * ''Reykjavik Mag'' "Elegantly Brutal" Profile with Thordis Bjornsdottir following publication of ''Vera & Linus'', July 2006. * POETRY DAILY: 3 July 2006, "Missive in an Icelandic Room 3" (From ''Denver Quarterly'') * POETRY DAILY: 10 November 2005, "Parades," "I Followed A Ribbon" (From ''Paris Review'') * ''Fréttabladid'': Interview about poetry and about the life of a poet, 27 July 2005. * Icelandic Radio FM 90.9: Reykjavík, Iceland. Interview by Gunnar Peturrson for upcoming NYHIL festival, July 2005. * ''Boston Review'': Boston, MA. Review of ''March Book'' by Desales Harrison. February/March 2005. * ''Book/ Mark'': Long Island, NY. Review of ''March Book'' by Claire Nicholas-White. 2004. * ''The Times'', Smithtown, NY; Port Times Record, Port Jefferson, NY. Profile following the publication of ''March Book''. March 2004.


External links


jesseball.com (Ball´s website)

"Pieter Emily"
Jesse Ball's novella, serialized in
Guernica Magazine ''Guernica / A Magazine of Art and Politics'' is an American digital magazine known for publishing fiction, poetry, essays, reportage, art, and interviews that focus primarily on global perspectives and the intersection between art and politics. ...

Nashville Review Interview with Jesse Ball

Jesse Ball's "THE MERCY OF KINGS"

"Finding the Comfortable Spots"
the
Guernica Magazine ''Guernica / A Magazine of Art and Politics'' is an American digital magazine known for publishing fiction, poetry, essays, reportage, art, and interviews that focus primarily on global perspectives and the intersection between art and politics. ...
interview with Jesse Ball by Craig Morgan Teicher
Grapevine (interview)

(BOMB interview)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Jesse 1978 births Poets from New York (state) Living people Vassar College alumni 21st-century American novelists Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Novelists from New York (state) 21st-century American poets People from Port Jefferson, New York School of the Art Institute of Chicago faculty American male novelists American male poets Berlin Prize recipients American people of Irish descent American poets of Italian descent 21st-century American male writers