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Michael Cunningham

(Redirected from Michael Cunningham (author))
For other people named Michael Cunningham, see Michael Cunningham (disambiguation).

Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952)[1] is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction[2] and the PEN/Faulkner Award[3] in 1999. Cunningham is Professor in the Practice of Creative Writing at Yale University.[4]

Michael Cunningham
Born (1952-11-06) November 6, 1952 (age 72)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation
EducationStanford University (BA)
University of Iowa (MFA)
Notable workThe Hours
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for Fiction
PEN/Faulkner Award
Signature

Early life and education

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Cunningham was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in La Cañada Flintridge, California.[5][6] He studied English literature at Stanford University, where he earned his degree. Later, at the University of Iowa, he received a Michener Fellowship and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. While studying at Iowa, he had short stories published in the Atlantic Monthly and The Paris Review. His short story "White Angel" was later used as a chapter in his novel A Home at the End of the World. It was included in "The Best American Short Stories, 1989", published by Houghton Mifflin.

In 1988, Cunningham received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship[7] and in 1993 a Guggenheim Fellowship.[8] In 1995 he was awarded a Whiting Award.[9] Cunningham has taught at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and in the creative writing M.F.A. program at Brooklyn College.

Career

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The Hours established Cunningham as a major force in the American writing sphere, and his 2010 novel, By Nightfall, was also well received by U.S. critics.[10] Cunningham edited a book of poetry and prose by Walt Whitman,[11] Laws for Creations, and co-wrote, with Susan Minot, a screenplay adapted from Minot's novel Evening. He was a producer for the 2007 film Evening, starring Glenn Close, Toni Collette, and Meryl Streep.

In November 2010, Cunningham judged one of NPR's "Three Minute Fiction" contests.[12]

In April 2018, it was announced that Cunningham would serve as consulting producer for a revival of the Tales of the City miniseries, which is based on Armistead Maupin's book series of the same name.[13] The miniseries premiered on June 7, 2019.

Personal life

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Although Cunningham is gay, and married to psychoanalyst Ken Corbett,[14] he dislikes being referred to as a gay writer, according to a PlanetOut article.[15] While he often writes about gay people, he does not "want the gay aspects of [his] books to be perceived as their single, primary characteristic."[16] Cunningham lives in Brooklyn, New York and works in Manhattan.[17]

Bibliography

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Cunningham reading at a W. H. Auden tribute in New York, 2007

Novels

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Short stories

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Collections:

  • A Wild Swan and Other Tales (2015), Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 978-0374290252, collection of 11 short stories:
    "Dis. Enchant.", "A Wild Swan", "Crazy Old Lady", "Jacked", "Poisoned", "A Monkey's Paw", "Little Man", "Steadfast; Tin", "Beasts", "Her Hair", "Ever/After"

Uncollected short stories:

Non-fiction

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  • "The Slap of Love". Open City. 6. 1996., article
  • Land's End: A Walk in Provincetown (2002), travels
  • Company (2008), an essay on the influence of Virginia Woolf on Cunningham's writing
  • About Time: Fashion and Duration (2020), with Andrew Bolton, couture

Screenplays

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Contributor

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Adaptations

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Awards and achievements

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For The Hours, Cunningham was awarded the:

In 1995, Cunningham received the a Whiting Award.

In 2011, Cunningham won the Fernanda Pivano Award for American Literature in Italy.[19] He won the Premio Gregor von Rezzori for Day in 2024.[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Meet the Writers: Michael Cunningham". barnesandnoble.com. Barnes & Noble. c. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-04-08. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  2. ^ "The Hours, by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  3. ^ "Past Award Winners & Finalists | The PEN/Faulkner Foundation". www.penfaulkner.org. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  4. ^ "Michael Cunningham | English". english.yale.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  5. ^ "Michael Cunningham". SBA The Steven Barclay Agency. Archived from the original on 2023-06-26. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  6. ^ Felicelli, Anita (September 13, 2022). "The Moment: Introducing the Special Guest in Conversation with Julie Otsuka". Alta. Archived from the original on 2022-09-13.
  7. ^ "Literature Fellowships". www.arts.gov. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  8. ^ "Michael Cunningham". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation... Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  9. ^ "Michael Cunningham". www.whiting.org. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  10. ^ metacritic entry on "Specimen Days"[dead link‍]
  11. ^ "For Every Atom Belonging to Me: Poet Michael Cunningham", Radio Netherlands Archives, October 7, 2006
  12. ^ "Three-Minute Fiction: The Winner Is ..." NPR.org.
  13. ^ Petski, Denise (April 24, 2018). "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City Revival Gets Series Order At Netflix; Ellen Page Joins Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  14. ^ Leland, John (October 24, 2002). "At Home With: Michael Cunningham; This Is the House The Book Bought". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  15. ^ PlanetOut Entertainment Archived August 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Moore, Chadwick (September 30, 2010). "Catching Up with Michael Cunningham". Out. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  17. ^ Alter, Alexandra (September 13, 2023). "Michael Cunningham Couldn't Help but Write a Pandemic Novel". The New York Times. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  18. ^ "Charles Lane Press | Books".
  19. ^ "Le menzogne di Cunningham e la musica di Servillo - la Repubblica.it". July 2011.
  20. ^ "Michael Cunningham, Day". Rai Cultura (in Italian). Retrieved October 13, 2024.
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