Nathan Englander (born 1970) is an American

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

writer and novelist. His debut

short story collection A short story collection is a book of short stories and/or novellas by a single author. A short story collection is distinguished from an anthology of fiction, which would contain work by several authors (e.g., '' Les Soirées de Médan''). Th ...

, '' For the Relief of Unbearable Urges,'' was published by Alfred A. Knopf, in 1999. His second collection, '' What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank'', won the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and was a finalist for the

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 ...

Biography

Nathan Englander was born in West Hempstead on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York, and grew up there as part of the

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

community. He attended the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County for high school and graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton and the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

. In the mid-1990s, he moved to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, where he lived for five years. Englander lives in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, with his wife Rachel, and children Olivia and Sammy. He formerly lived in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, and

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. He taught fiction as a part of

CUNY The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. 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 ...

's Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing and in the MFA program at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Literary career

Since the publication of '' For the Relief of Unbearable Urges'', Englander has received a

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 ...

, the Bard Fiction Prize, and a fellowship at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Four of his short stories have appeared in editions of ''

The Best American Short Stories ''The Best American Short Stories'' is a yearly anthology that's part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the ''BASS'' has anthologized more than 2,000 short stories, including works by some of the ...

'': "The Gilgul of Park Avenue" appeared in the 2000 edition, with guest editor E.L. Doctorow, "How We Avenged the Blums" appeared in the 2006 edition, guest edited by

Ann Patchett Ann Patchett (born December 2, 1963) is an American author. She received the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction in the same year, for her novel ''Bel Canto (novel), Bel Canto''. Patchett's othe ...

, "Free Fruit for Young Widows" appeared in the 2011 edition, guest edited by Geraldine Brooks, and "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" appeared in the 2012 edition, guest edited by Tom Perrotta. Another story in the collection, "The Twenty-Seventh Man," debuted as a play in November, 2012, the subject of a radio program featuring audio of a reading by actor Michael Stuhlbarg. ''The Ministry of Special Cases,'' Englander's follow-up to his debut collection, was released on April 24, 2007. The novel is set in 1976 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

during Argentina's "

Dirty War The Dirty War () is the name used by the military junta or National Reorganization Process, civic-military dictatorship of Argentina () for its period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983. During this campaign, military and secu ...

" and has been described as "an impeccably paced, historically accurate novel which is alternatively side-splitting and frighteningly macabre." Englander has said of his novel: "... I resisted calling it a political book, in that it wasn’t my intent—that is, I had no corrupting (as I’d see it) preconceived position that I was pushing. There’s a lot of politics in my novel, because it’s central to the world of that novel." Englander's third book, '' What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank'', a short story collection, was released on February 7, 2012. The title story was featured in the December 12, 2011 issue of ''

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 ...

'', and the book won the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 2017, Englander was announced as juror for the 2017

Scotiabank Giller Prize The Giller Prize (known as the Scotiabank Giller Prize from 2005-2023) is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried c ...

."Introducing the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize Jury". ''

'', http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/introducing-the-2017-scotiabank-giller-prize-jury/ January 16, 2017.

Awards and critical acclaim

* 2000 - PEN/Malamud Award * 2012 - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award

Published works

* '' For the Relief of Unbearable Urges'' New York Knopf 1999. , * ''The Ministry of Special Cases'' New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. , * '' What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank'' New York : Knopf, 2012. , * ''Dinner at the Center of the Earth'' New York, NY : Alfred A. Knopf, 2017. , * ''Kaddish.com'' New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2019. ,

References

External links

Nathan Englander's page on Penguin Random House website

Profile of Nathan Englander
and his time at

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

in Pipe Dream (newspaper)
For the Relief of Unbearable Pressure: A Profile of Nathan Englander

Radio Interview on Bookworm

Nathan Englander's website
* Stories online:
'How We Avenged the Blums' in Atlantic Monthly

'Free Fruit for Young Widows' in The New Yorker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Englander, Nathan 1970 births Living people 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers American academics of English literature American expatriates in Israel American expatriate writers in Canada American male novelists American male short story writers Binghamton University alumni Hunter College faculty Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Jewish American novelists Jewish American short story writers The New Yorker people Novelists from New York (state) PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners PEN/Malamud Award winners People from West Hempstead, New York