American novelist and journalist
Lev Grossman
(born June 26, 1969) is an American novelist and journalist who wrote
The Magicians Trilogy
:
The Magicians
(2009),
The Magician King
(2011), and
The Magician's Land
(2014). He was the book critic and lead technology writer at
Time
magazine from 2002 to 2016.
[1]
His recent work includes the children's book
The Silver Arrow
and the screenplay for the film
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things
, based on his short story.
Early life
[
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]
Grossman was born on June 26, 1969, in
Concord, Massachusetts
.
[2]
He is the twin brother of
video game
designer and novelist
Austin Grossman
, brother of
sculptor
Bathsheba Grossman
, and son of the poet
Allen Grossman
and the novelist
Judith Grossman
. Grossman's father was born
Jewish
[3]
and his mother was raised
Anglican
,
[4]
but Grossman has said, "I grew up in a very unreligious household. Very. I have no religion at all. So I come at religion as about as much of an outsider as you can be in Western civilization."
[5]
On the assumption that he was raised
Jewish
, he has said, "I have this extremely old-world name, and people can invite me to as many Jewish book festivals as they want to--but I wasn't raised Jewish."
[4]
He is an
alumnus
of
Lexington High School
and
Harvard College
. He graduated from Harvard in 1991 with a degree in literature.
[6]
Career
[
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]
Journalism
[
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]
Grossman has written for
The New York Times
,
Wired
,
Salon.com
,
Lingua Franca
,
Entertainment Weekly
,
Time Out New York
,
The Wall Street Journal
, and
The Village Voice
. He has served as a member of the board of directors of the
National Book Critics Circle
and as the chair of the Fiction Awards Panel.
[7]
In May 2015, Grossman gave the third annual
Tolkien Lecture
at
Pembroke College, Oxford
.
[8]
In writing for
Time
, he has also covered the consumer electronics industry, reporting on
video games
,
blogs
,
viral videos
and
Web comics
like
Penny Arcade
and
Achewood
. In 2006, he traveled to
Japan
to cover the unveiling of the
Wii
console.
[9]
He has interviewed
Bill Gates
,
Steve Jobs
,
Salman Rushdie
,
Neil Gaiman
,
Joan Didion
,
Jonathan Franzen
,
J.K. Rowling
, and
Johnny Cash
. He wrote one of the earliest pieces on
Stephenie Meyer
's
Twilight
series.
[10]
A piece written by Grossman on the game
Halo 3
was criticized for casting gamers in an "unfavorable light."
[11]
Grossman was also the author of the
Time Person of the Year
2010 feature article on
Facebook
founder
Mark Zuckerberg
.
[12]
Grossman did some freelancing and wrote for other magazines. Some of the works he wrote at this time include "The Death of a Civil Servant," "Good Novels Don't Have to be Hard," "Catalog This," "The Gay Nabokov," "When Words Fail," and "Get Smart." He freelanced at
The Believer
,
the Wall Street Journal
,
New York Times
,
Salon
,
Lingua Franca
, and
Time Digital
. It was soon after this that his first novel,
Warp
, was published.
[1]
He quit his job at
Time
magazine in August 2016 to pursue writing full time.
[1]
[13]
Fiction
[
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]
Lev Grossman's first novel,
Warp
, was published in 1997, after he moved to New York City.
[6]
Warp
was about "the lyrical misadventures of an aimless 20-something in Boston who has trouble distinguishing between reality and
Star Trek
."
[1]
It received largely negative customer reviews on Amazon.com, and in response, Grossman submitted fake reviews to
Amazon
using false names. He then recounted these actions in an essay titled "Terrors of the Amazon".
[14]
His second novel,
Codex
, was published in 2004 and became an international bestseller.
[6]
In an article for
The New York Times
Grossman wrote: "I wrote fiction for 17 years before I found out I was a fantasy novelist. Up till then I always thought I was going to write literary fiction, like
Jonathan Franzen
or Zadie Smith or Jhumpa Lahiri. But I thought wrong. ... Fantasy is sometimes dismissed as childish, or escapist, but I take what I am doing very, very seriously.
[15]
Grossman's
The Magicians
was published in hardcover in August 2009 and became a bestseller. The trade paperback edition was made available on May 25, 2010.
The Washington Post
called it "Exuberant and inventive...Fresh and compelling...a great fairy tale."
[16]
The book is a dark
contemporary fantasy
about Quentin Coldwater, an unusually gifted young man who obsesses over Fillory, the magical land of his favorite childhood books. Unexpectedly admitted to Brakebills, a secret, exclusive college of magic in upstate New York (an amalgam of
Bannerman's Castle
and
Olana
), Quentin receives an education in the craft of modern sorcery. After graduation, he and his friends discover that Fillory is real.
[17]
Michael Agger of
The New York Times
said the book "could crudely be labeled a Harry Potter for adults," injecting mature themes into fantasy literature.
[18]
The Magicians
won the 2010
Alex Award
, given to ten adult books that are appealing to young adults, and the 2011
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
.
[19]
In August 2011,
The Magician King
, the sequel to
The Magicians
, was published, which returns readers to the magical land of Fillory, where Quentin and his friends are now kings and queens.
The Chicago Tribune
said
The Magician King
was "
The Catcher in the Rye
for devotees of alternative universes" and that "Grossman has created a rare, strange and scintillating novel."
[20]
It was an Editor's Choice pick of
The New York Times
, who called it "[A] serious, heartfelt novel [that] turns the machinery of fantasy inside out."
[21]
The Boston Globe
said "
The Magician King
is a rare achievement, a book that simultaneously criticizes and celebrates our deep desire for fantasy."
[22]
The third book in the series is titled
The Magician's Land
[23]
[24]
and was published on 5 August 2014.
[25]
In September 2016, Grossman announced that he was working on a
King Arthur
novel called
The Bright Sword.
[26]
[
needs update
]
In July 2019, Grossman, with co-writer Lilah Sturges and illustrator Pius Bak, released
The Magicians: Alice's Story
, a graphic novel told from the perspective of Alice, a secondary character from the book series.
Grossman's first children's book,
The Silver Arrow
, was published in September 2020. It debuted on the
New York Times
Best Seller list
on September 27, 2020.
[27]
The Golden Swift,
its sequel, was published on May 3, 2022.
Film and television
[
edit
]
Grossman's
Magicians
trilogy was
adapted for television
by
Sera Gamble
and
John McNamara
for
Syfy
. The series received five seasons and aired from December 2015 to April 2020.
Grossman wrote the screenplay for the film
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things
, based on his short story of the same name. The film was released through
Amazon Prime Video
on February 12, 2021.
[28]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Grossman lives in
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
[29]
with his wife and children.
[30]
[31]
Grossman is a self-professed atheist.
[32]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Warp
, New York: St. Martin's Griffin/Macmillan, 1997.
ISBN
978-0-312-17059-2
- Codex
, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004.
ISBN
978-0-15-101066-0
- The Magicians
, New York: Viking/Penguin, 2009.
ISBN
978-0-670-02055-3
(hardcover); Plume/Penguin, 2010.
ISBN
978-0-452-29629-9
(trade paperback)
- The Magician King (novel)
, New York: Viking/Penguin, 2011.
ISBN
978-0-670-02231-1
- The Magician's Land (novel)
, New York: Viking/Penguin/PRH, 2014.
ISBN
978-0-670-01567-2
- The Magicians: Alice's Story (graphic novel)
(with Lilah Sturges), Archala, 2019.
ISBN
978-1-684-15021-2
- The Magicians #1 (comic)
(with Lilah Sturges), BOOM! ? Archaia, 2019
ASIN
B07ZL5CK1F
- The Magicians #2 (comic)
(with Lilah Sturges), BOOM! ? Archaia, 2019
ASIN
B07ZL52X49
- The Magicians #3 (comic)
(with Lilah Sturges), BOOM! ? Archaia, 2020
ASIN
B083C4SLZW
- The Magicians #4 (comic)
(with Lilah Sturges), BOOM! ? Archaia, 2020
ASIN
B083C5F5TG
- The Silver Arrow
, Little, Brown, 2020.
ISBN
978-0-316-54170-1
- The Golden Swift
, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2022.
ISBN
9780316283861
Filmography
[
edit
]
Film and TV
[
edit
]
Other credits
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Time | Lev Grossman"
.
Lev Grossman
.
Archived
from the original on April 4, 2019
. Retrieved
March 1,
2018
.
- ^
"Lev Grossman" in
Marquis' Who's Who on the Web
[database online]
Marquis Who's Who
. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
- ^
Yarrow, Allison Gaudet (September 6, 2011).
"Lev Grossman Writes Fantasy Novels Even a Grown-Up Can Love"
.
The Forward
.
Archived
from the original on August 3, 2020
. Retrieved
November 18,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Patrick, Bethanne (August 16, 2011).
"The Writer's Life: Portrait of the Artist: Lev Grossman"
.
Shelf Awareness
.
Archived
from the original on August 3, 2020
. Retrieved
November 18,
2019
.
- ^
Winter, Brent (March 27, 2014).
"5 Questions With Lev Grossman"
.
NC State University News
.
Archived
from the original on July 9, 2022
. Retrieved
November 18,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
"About Lev ? Lev Grossman"
.
Lev Grossman
.
Archived
from the original on March 21, 2014
. Retrieved
March 14,
2014
.
- ^
Ciabattari, Jane (January 22, 2009).
"Lev Grossman Predicts…"
.
"Critical Mass": National Book Critics Circle Blog
. Archived from
the original
on July 21, 2011
. Retrieved
April 23,
2009
.
- ^
Gabriel (June 11, 2015).
"Video: Lev Grossman, 'Fear and Loathing in Aslan's Land'
"
.
The J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature
.
Archived
from the original on May 21, 2020
. Retrieved
July 9,
2022
.
- ^
Grossman, Lev (May 8, 2006).
"A Game For All Ages"
.
Time
. Archived from
the original
on June 15, 2006.
- ^
Grossman, Lev (April 24, 2008).
"Stephenie Meyer: A New J.K. Rowling?"
.
Time
. Archived from
the original
on April 29, 2008.
- ^
"Time Magazine Takes Shots at Gamers with Halo 3 Article"
.
Gaming Today
. September 4, 2007. Archived from
the original
on September 7, 2007
. Retrieved
January 31,
2008
.
- ^
Grossman, Lev (December 15, 2010).
"Person Of The Year 2010"
.
Time
. Archived from
the original
on December 19, 2010.
- ^
"Transparency"
.
Lev Grossman
.
Archived
from the original on March 1, 2018
. Retrieved
March 1,
2018
.
- ^
Grossman, Lev (March 2, 1999).
"Terrors of the Amazon"
.
Salon.com
.
Archived
from the original on September 27, 2017
. Retrieved
July 9,
2022
.
- ^
Grossman, Lev (August 16, 2014).
"Finding My Voice in Fantasy"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on July 9, 2022
. Retrieved
July 9,
2022
.
- ^
Donohoe, Keith (August 1, 2009).
"Post-Harry Potter, The Spell Is Cast"
.
The Washington Post
.
Archived
from the original on November 8, 2012
. Retrieved
August 1,
2010
.
- ^
Carlo Rovelli.
"Used, New, and Out of Print Books ? We Buy and Sell ? Powell's Books"
.
Archived
from the original on July 31, 2009
. Retrieved
August 17,
2009
.
- ^
Agger, Michael (September 13, 2009).
"Abracadabra Angst"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on March 27, 2017
. Retrieved
June 24,
2011
.
- ^
2011 Hugo Awards
, 2012, archived from
the original
on May 4, 2012
, retrieved
September 15,
2012
- ^
Keller, Julia (August 12, 2011).
"At Summer's End, Adventure"
.
Chicago Tribune
.
Archived
from the original on December 21, 2011
. Retrieved
September 23,
2011
.
- ^
Kois, Dan (August 26, 2011).
"Further Adventures of a Magician from Brooklyn"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on September 1, 2011
. Retrieved
September 23,
2011
.
- ^
Domestico, Anthony (August 9, 2011).
"A teen-turned-king finds his way in dark fantasy world"
.
The Boston Globe
. Archived from
the original
on August 29, 2011
. Retrieved
September 23,
2011
.
- ^
"Stepping Away from the Vehicle"
.
Lev Grossman
. September 9, 2013.
Archived
from the original on November 13, 2013
. Retrieved
November 13,
2013
.
- ^
St. James, Emily (August 10, 2011).
"Review:
The Magician King
"
.
The A.V. Club
.
Archived
from the original on November 13, 2013
. Retrieved
November 13,
2013
.
- ^
"Lev Grossman ? The Magicians Land cover art and synopsis"
.
Upcoming4.me
. November 26, 2013. Archived from
the original
on December 2, 2013.
- ^
Liptak, Andrew (September 28, 2016).
"Lev Grossman will reimagine King Arthur's legacy in The Bright Sword"
.
The Verge
.
Archived
from the original on September 27, 2017
. Retrieved
March 3,
2017
.
- ^
"Children's Middle Grade Hardcover Books ? Best Sellers ? Sept. 27, 2020 ? The New York Times"
.
The New York Times Best Seller list
. September 27, 2020.
Archived
from the original on May 5, 2021
. Retrieved
October 20,
2020
.
- ^
Fox, Sarah (January 14, 2021).
"Kathryn Newton's 'The Map of Tiny Perfect Things' Sets February Release"
.
Slanted
.
Archived
from the original on January 28, 2021
. Retrieved
February 8,
2021
.
- ^
Sierra, Jeremiah (August 13, 2015).
"Local Author Lev Grossman On Escaping Brooklyn Without Leaving It"
.
Bklyner
.
Archived
from the original on February 24, 2019
. Retrieved
February 24,
2019
.
- ^
"Benedictus: Thoughts on Being a Writer and Having Children"
.
Lev Grossman
. September 16, 2012.
Archived
from the original on November 4, 2013
. Retrieved
August 27,
2013
.
- ^
Grossman, Lev (June 28, 2010).
"The Flight of the Halcyon: Or, I Had a Baby"
Archived
September 27, 2017, at the
Wayback Machine
. Lev Grossman.
- ^
"The Dying and Reviving God" Lev Grossman Blog
http://levgrossman.com/tag/the-dying-and-reviving-god/
Archived
July 9, 2022, at the
Wayback Machine
External links
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