American novelist
Stewart O'Nan
(born February 4, 1961) is an American
novelist
.
Life and work
[
edit
]
Background
[
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]
Born on February 4, 1961, to John Lee O'Nan II and Mary Ann O'Nan (
nee
Smith), he and his brother John were raised in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, where their father worked for
Alcoa
. O'Nan earned his
B.S.
in
Aerospace Engineering
at
Boston University
in 1983.
[1]
While in
Boston
, O'Nan became a fan of the
Red Sox
. On October 27, 1984, he married Trudy Anne Southwick, his high school sweetheart. They moved to
Long Island
,
New York
, and he went to work for
Grumman Aerospace Corporation
in
Bethpage, New York
, as a test engineer from 1984 to 1988.
[2]
Encouraged by his wife to pursue a career in writing, they moved to
Ithaca, New York
, and O'Nan returned to college and graduated with his
M.F.A.
from
Cornell University
in 1992. His family and he then moved to
Edmond, Oklahoma
, and he taught at the
University of Central Oklahoma
and the
University of New Mexico
.
[3]
From 1995 to 1998, he was a writer-in-residence at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
[4]
[5]
Short stories
[
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]
O'Nan's first book, and only collection of short stories,
In the Walled City
, was awarded the 1993
Drue Heinz Literature Prize
.
[6]
Many of the stories in that collection also originally appeared in publications such as
Ascent
(the short story "Econoline"),
Columbia
(the short story "The Third of July"),
Jam To-Day
(the short story "Mr Wu Thinks"),
The Nebraska Review
(the short story "Winter Haven),
Northwest Review
(the short story "The Finger"),
The South Dakota Review
(the short story "The Calling") and
The Threepenny Review
(the short story "Steak").
Novels
[
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]
Also in 1993, O'Nan was able to find a publisher for his second book, and first novel,
Snow Angels
?based on the story "Finding Amy" from
In the Walled City
?when the manuscript earned him the first Pirate's Alley Faulkner Prize for the Novel, awarded by the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society of New Orleans.
[7]
In 2007
Snow Angels
was adapted for a
film of the same title
, directed by
David Gordon Green
, who also wrote the screenplay, and which starred
Sam Rockwell
and
Kate Beckinsale
.
In 1995, his family and he moved to
Avon, Connecticut
. He was a writer-in-residence and taught creative writing at
Trinity College
in nearby
Hartford
until 1997. The research he did for his novel
The Names of the Dead
led to the creation of a class that studied
Vietnam War
memoirs as a form of literature, which he also initially taught. In 1996,
Granta
named him one of America's Best Young Novelists.
[8]
In a 2002 article, "Finding Time to Write," he wrote:
Very simple things like keeping the manuscript with you at all times. Always keep it with you. That way you can always go back to it. Doesn't have to be the whole manuscript. Another way to do this is to bring only the very last sentence that you worked on--where you left off, basically. Bring it with you on a sheet of paper or index card. Keep it on your person so that if you're running around the building where you're working, you take that five seconds to pull it out and look at it and say, "Okay, oh, maybe I'll do this with it. Maybe I'll do something else with it. Maybe I'll fix it there."
[9]
A Face in the Crowd
is a
novella
by
Stephen King
and O'Nan, originally published as an
e-book
on August 21, 2012, as well as an
audiobook
, read by
Craig Wasson
.
[10]
In 2015, O'Nan released a novel entitled
West of Sunset
, about the last days of writer
F. Scott Fitzgerald
as he moves out to Los Angeles after being ruined financially and experiencing health problems, after his wife is put in an insane asylum.
[11]
Filmmaker
James Ponsoldt
has been in negotiations to write and direct a film adaptation of the book, with actors like
Tom Hanks
,
Emily Watson
and
Alicia Vikander
currently being attached.
[12]
Nonfiction books
[
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]
When he researched
The Circus Fire
, he advertised in
The Hartford Courant
and received many answers to his request for interviews with survivors of the
Hartford Circus fire
.
[13]
In the spring of 2005 O'Nan spoke at the Lucy Robbins Welles Library in
Newington, Connecticut
, as the featured author in its One Book, 4 Towns program. In an article for Connecticut Magazine, when asked about
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
, the book he co-authored with
Stephen King
, O'Nan replied, "I always tell my friends that the luckiest thing that ever happened to me was becoming a Red Sox fan."
[14]
Screenplays and other writing
[
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]
In 2008,
Lonely Road Books
sold out its pre-orders for O'Nan's latest writing, a screenplay simply titled
Poe
. It is a dramatic retelling of the life of
Edgar Allan Poe
. The screenplay was released as a limited edition of 200 copies and as a lettered edition of 26 copies. It features a foreword by
Roger Corman
and frontispieces by
Jill Bauman
.
Works
[
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]
Short story collections
[
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]
Novels
[
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]
- Transmission
(Arjuna Library, 1987)
- Snow Angels
(Doubleday/BDD, 1994)
- The Names of the Dead
(Doubleday/BDD, 1996)
- The Speed Queen
(Doubleday/
BDD
, 1997)
- A World Away
(Henry Holt/Macmillan, 1998)
- A Prayer for the Dying
(Henry Holt/Macmillan, 1999)
- Everyday People
(Grove Press, 2001)
- Wish You Were Here
(Grove Press, 2002)
- The Night Country
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Macmillan, 2003)
- The Good Wife
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Macmillan, 2005)
- Last Night at the Lobster
(
Viking
/
Penguin
, 2007)
- Songs for the Missing
(Viking/Penguin, October 2008)
- Emily, Alone
(Viking/Penguin, March 2011)
- The Odds
(Viking/Penguin, January 2012)
- A Face in the Crowd
(Simon & Schuster Digital, August 2012) (e-book and audiobook novella co-written with
Stephen King
)
- West of Sunset
(Viking/Penguin/
PRH
, January 2015)
- City of Secrets
: a novel (Viking, 26 April 2016)
ISBN
978-0670785964
[15]
- Henry, Himself
(Viking, May 2019)
- Ocean State
(Atlantic Monthly Press, March 2022)
Screenplays
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]
Nonfiction
[
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]
As editor
[
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]
- On Writers and Writing
by
John Gardner
(Addison-Wesley, 1994)
- The Vietnam Reader: The Definitive Collection of Fiction and Nonfiction on the War
(Anchor Books, 1998)
References
[
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]
- ^
Barnes & Noble, West of Sunset by Stewart O'Nan,
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/west-of-sunset-stewart-onan/1119671263?ean=9780670785957
- ^
"Stewart O'Nan"
.
Granta
. Retrieved
2020-04-11
.
- ^
Rausch, Andrew J. (5 February 2019).
Perspectives on Stephen King : conversations with authors, experts and collaborators
. Jefferson, North Carolina.
ISBN
978-1-4766-7417-9
.
OCLC
1039671896
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Rausch, Andrew J. (5 February 2019).
Perspectives on Stephen King : conversations with authors, experts and collaborators
. Jefferson, North Carolina.
ISBN
978-1-4766-7417-9
.
OCLC
1039671896
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Writer, KEVIN CANFIELD; Courant Staff (11 February 2001).
"WORK ETHIC LIGHTS STEWART O'NAN'S FIRE"
.
courant.com
. Retrieved
2020-04-11
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"Drue Heinz Literature Prize"
.
University of Pittsburgh Press
. 2007. Archived from
the original
on 2007-05-18
. Retrieved
2007-03-29
.
- ^
"About the Competition: History of Success"
.
The Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society, Inc
. 2006. Archived from
the original
on 2007-09-27
. Retrieved
2007-03-29
.
- ^
"Granta 54: Best of Young American Novelists"
.
Granta
.
- ^
Stewart O'Nan.
"Finding Time to Write"
(Article)
.
Nieman Reports 56.1 (Spring 2002):p 17(2)
. Retrieved
2007-08-15
.
- ^
Caryn James, ‘West of Sunset,’ by Stewart O’Nan, New York Times Sunday Book Review,
http://www.stephenking.com/promo/face_in_the_crowd/
- ^
James, Caryn (20 February 2015).
"
'West of Sunset,' by Stewart O'Nan"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
Kevin Jagernauth, James Ponsoldt To Direct F. Scott Fitzgerald Drama 'West Of Sunset', The Playlist - IndieWire,
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/james-ponsoldt-to-direct-f-scott-fitzgerald-drama-west-of-sunset-20150529
- ^
Good Reads, The Circus Fire,
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/351219.The_Circus_Fire
- ^
Patricia D'Ascoli, Q&A: Stewart O'Nan, Connecticut Magazine
- ^
"City of Secrets by Stewart O'Nan - Penguin Books USA"
. Archived from
the original
on 2015-07-15.
External links
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