Mark Sarvas (born September 26, 1964) 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 ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

, and

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He is the host of the literary blog ''The Elegant Variation'' and author of the novel ''Harry, Revised'' (2008). ''Harry, Revised'' was published by Bloomsbury, and was a finalist for the Fiction Prize of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association. It was also a 2008 ''Denver Post'' Good Reads selection. Sarvas is a member of the

National Book Critics Circle The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c) organization, 501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the N ...

and

PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide th ...

, and a contributing editor of the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...

''. His second novel, ''Memento Park,'' was acquired by

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...

in May 2014, and published in March 2018. His third novel, @UGMAN, was published in 2025.

Awards

*2005: ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' Top 10 Litblog *2005: ''

'' magazine Top LA Blog *2006: ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' Best of the Web *2008: Southern California Independent Booksellers Association: First Fiction Prize finalist *2018: Santa Monica Arts Fellowship *2019: AJL Fiction Award *2019:

American Book Award The American Book Awards are an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "t ...

for ''Memento Park'' *2019: Finalist, Sami Rohr Prize *2019: Shortlisted, JQ Wingate Literary Prize.

Bibliography

* ''Harry, Revised'' (2008) * ''Memento Park'' (2018) * ''@UGMAN'' (2025)

External links

Official website

Literary Criticism

of Joshua Cohen's Book of Numbers
Publishers Weekly review of Memento Park

Publisher's page for @UGMAN
1964 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American bloggers American literary critics American Book Award winners American male novelists Novelists from New York City 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers American male bloggers {{US-novelist-1960s-stub