Michael Thomas is an American author. He won the 2009

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

for his

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to ...

Man Gone Down ''Man Gone Down'' (2006) is the debut novel of U.S. author Michael Thomas. It won the 2009 International Dublin Literary Award, with Thomas receiving a prize of €100,000 (£85,000, US$140,000). ''Man Gone Down'' is also recommended by ''The New ...

'', receiving a prize of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

100,000. ''Man Gone Down'' is also recommended by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

Early and personal life

Thomas was born and raised in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

. He studied for a bachelor's degree at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also adm ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, where he now teaches, and for a master's at

Warren Wilson College Warren Wilson College (WWC) is a private liberal arts college in Swannanoa, North Carolina. It is known for its curriculum that combines academics, work, and service as every student must complete a requisite course of study, work an on-campus ...

. He currently lives in

, claiming to have never had a proper job although he has worked in several areas, including bars, restaurants, construction,

pizza delivery Pizza delivery is a service in which a pizzeria or pizza chain delivers a pizza to a customer. An order is typically made either by telephone, or over the internet, in which the customer can request pizza type and size, and other items to be ...

, on film sets and driving a

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

. Thomas is married and lives with his wife and three children in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

Writing career

Prior to his international success as a novelist, Thomas wrote poetry and performed in the capacity of a singer-songwriter. Later, whilst attending graduate school, he studied a fiction program, with his thesis being a collection of short stories. One of these short stories became his debut novel.

''Man Gone Down''

Thomas's debut novel, ''Man Gone Down'', won the 2009 International Dublin Literary Award on 11 June 2009. The prize, which is the richest literary award in the world (apart from the Nobel Prize in Literature) and is open to novels written in all languages, was €100,000 ( £85,000,

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

140,000). Thomas was the third author to win with a debut novel, following Andrew Miller's ''

Ingenious Pain ''Ingenious Pain'' is the first novel by English author, Andrew Miller, published in 1997. Set in the mid-18th century, the novel follows the picaresque adventures of James Dyer, an Englishman born without the ability to feel pain or pleasure. ...

'' (1999) and

Rawi Hage Rawi Hage (Arabic: راوي الحاج, romanized: Rāwī Ḥāj; born 1964) is a Lebanese-Canadian journalist, novelist, and photographer based in Canada. Writing Hage has published journalism and fiction in Canadian and American magazines, and ...

's ''

De Niro's Game ''De Niro's Game'' is the debut novel by Lebanese-Canadian writer Rawi Hage, originally published in 2006. The novel's primary characters are Bassam and George, lifelong friends living in war-torn Beirut. The novel traces the different paths that ...

'' (2007). The book was praised by the judges, who included James Ryan, for its "energy and warmth" and for being "tuned urgently to the way we live now". Thomas said he had been "feeling a little desperate" during the writing of it. ''Man Gone Down'' beat an international longlist of 147 titles from 41 countries, as well as seven other shortlisted nominations such as ''

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ''The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao'' is a 2007 novel written by Dominican American author Junot Díaz. Although a work of fiction, the novel is set in New Jersey in the United States, where Díaz was raised, and it deals with the Dominican R ...

'' by

Junot Diaz Junot is a French name that may refer to the following notable people: ;Given name *Junot Díaz (born 1968), Dominican American ;Surname *Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes (1784–1838), French writer *Jean-Andoche Junot Jean-Andoche Junot, 1st ...

and ''

The Reluctant Fundamentalist ''The Reluctant Fundamentalist'' is a "metafictional"Madiou, Mohamed Salah Eddine. “Mohsin Hamid Engages the World in The Reluctant Fundamentalist: ‘An Island on an Island,’ Worlds in Miniature and ‘Fiction’ in the Making.” Arab Stu ...

'' by

Mohsin Hamid Mohsin Hamid ( ur, محسن حامد; born 23 July 1971) is a British Pakistani novelist, writer and brand consultant. His novels are ''Moth Smoke'' (2000), '' The Reluctant Fundamentalist'' (2007), '' How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia'' (2 ...

, as well as novels by established authors such as Doris Lessing, Joyce Carol Oates and

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

. It was nominated by the

National Library Service of Barbados The National Library Service of Barbados is the government supported public-library service in the nation of Barbados. Headquartered in the capital-city Bridgetown, the main branch was located on Coleridge Street. It was constructed between 19 ...

. In 2007, ''Man Gone Down'' was named in the top ten of a list by ''

''. Thomas attended the prize ceremony in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, saying he was "stunned" and "still waiting for the punch line". He expressed his disbelief that he had even made the shortlist – "or the longlist, for that matter". He expects to "pay some bills" with the money as well as "a mortgage, a half-built house". The novel deals with an African-American man who is estranged from his white wife and their children. He must come up with a sum of money within four days to have them returned. It focuses on an attempt to achieve the American Dream. Thomas describes ''Man Gone Down'' as having a "gallows humour". Thomas is currently working on his second book, intended to be non-fiction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Michael Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American novelists African-American novelists American male novelists Hunter College alumni Warren Wilson College alumni Hunter College faculty Writers from Boston Writers from Brooklyn 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Novelists from Massachusetts 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers 21st-century African-American writers African-American male writers