Michael Dirda (born 1948) is an American book critic, working for the '' Washington Post''. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and won a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

in 1993.

Career

Having studied at Oberlin College for his undergraduate degree in 1970, Dirda earned an M.A. in 1974 and PhD in 1977 from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

. In 1978 Dirda started writing for the ''Washington Post''; in 1993 he won the

for his criticism. Currently, he is a book columnist for the ''Post''. In 2002, Dirda was invested as a member of The Baker Street Irregulars.

Works

Two collections of Dirda's literary journalism have been published: * ''Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments'' (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000) * ''Bound to Please'' (New York: W. W. Norton, 2005) He has also written: * ''An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland'' (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003) (autobiography) * ''Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life'' (New York: Henry Holt, 2005) * ''Classics for Pleasure'' (Orlando: Harcourt, 2007) * ''

On Conan Doyle; or, The Whole Art of Storytelling ''On Conan Doyle; or, The Whole Art of Storytelling'' is a 2011 book about Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes i ...

'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011) * ''Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books'' (New York: Pegasus, 2015) ''On Conan Doyle'' was awarded the 2012 Edgar Award in the Best Critical/Biographical category. (Reviewer Darrell Schweitzer lauds the book in '' The New York Review of Science Fiction''.)

Family

Dirda lives in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

, with his wife, Marian Peck Dirda, a prints and drawings conservator at the National Gallery of Art. They have three sons: Christopher (b. 1984), Michael (b. 1987), and Nathaniel (b. 1990).

Career

Works

Family

See also

References

External links