Michael Downing (May 8, 1958 – February 9, 2021) was an American writer and academic.Bryan Marquard
"Michael Downing, whose books illuminated his illness and the lives of others, dies at 62"
''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', February 28, 2021. A longtime professor of creative writing at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, he was most noted for his 1999 novel ''Breakfast with Scot'', which was a

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbo ...

nominee in 2001 and was adapted by Canadian film director

Laurie Lynd Laurie Lynd (born May 19, 1959, in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian film and television director and screenwriter, best known as the director of the feature film ''Breakfast with Scot''. In his early career, Lynd made the short films ''Together and ...

into the 2007 film ''

Breakfast with Scot ''Breakfast with Scot'' is a 2007 Canadian comedy film. It is adapted from the 1999 novel by Tufts University professor Michael Downing. The screenplay was adapted by Sean Reycraft from the book by Michael Downing, and the film was directed by L ...

''.

Career

A native of

Pittsfield Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, and a graduate of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, Downing wrote for various magazines before publishing his debut novel ''A Narrow Time'' in 1987. He followed up with ''Mother of God'' in 1990, and ''Perfect Agreement'' in 1997. He joined Tufts University in 1998, after several years teaching at

Wheelock College Wheelock College (Wheelock) was a private college in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1888 by Lucy Wheelock as Miss Wheelock's Kindergarten Training School, it offered undergraduate and graduate programs that focused on the Arts & Sciences, ...

."Remembering Michael Downing"
''Tufts Now'', February 22, 2021. His later books included the novels ''The Chapel'' (2015) and ''Still in Love'' (2019), the non-fiction books ''Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center'' (2001) and ''Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time'' (2005), and the personal memoir ''Life with Sudden Death: A Tale of Moral Hazard and Medical Misadventure'' (2009). The memoir addressed his experiences learning that he suffered from the same genetic heart defect that had caused the sudden deaths of his father and older brother, and his decision to mitigate the risk by having surgery to receive an

implantable cardioverter-defibrillator An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or automated implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) is a device implantable inside the body, able to perform defibrillation, and depending on the type, cardioversion and pacing of the ...

.Carey Goldberg, "Genetic testing brings new hope, hard choices". ''

'', August 4, 2008.

Personal life

Downing met his partner Peter Bryant in 1982. The couple legally married in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downing, Michael 1958 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers American male novelists American male non-fiction writers American gay writers American LGBT novelists Harvard University alumni Tufts University faculty Writers from Pittsfield, Massachusetts Gay academics