Gary Shteyngart
Encyclopedia
Gary Shteyngart is an American
writer born in Leningrad
, USSR. Much of his work is satirical and relies on the invention of elaborately fictitious yet somehow familiar places and times.
in what is now St. Petersburg, Russia; (he alternately calls it "St. Leningrad" or "St. Leninsburg"). He comes from a Jewish family and describes his family as typically Soviet
. His father worked as an engineer in a LOMO
camera factory; his mother was a pianist. Shteyngart emigrated to the United States
in 1979 and was brought up with no television in the apartment in which he lived, where English was not the household language. He did not shed his thick Russian accent until the age of 14.
Shteyngart took a trip to Prague
, and this experience helped spawn his first novel, set in the fictitious European city of Prava. He is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School
in New York City
, Oberlin College
in Ohio
, where he earned a degree in politics, and Hunter College
of the City University of New York
, where he earned an MFA in Creative Writing.
Shteyngart now lives in the Lower East Side
of Manhattan
. He has taught writing at Hunter College
, and currently teaches writing at Columbia University
and Princeton University
.
Gary Shteyngart was a Citigroup Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin
, Germany, for Fall 2007.
won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, the Book-of-the-Month Club First Fiction Award and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. It was named a New York Times Notable Book and one of the best debuts of the year by The Guardian
In 2002, he was named one of the five best new writers by Shout NY
Magazine. Absurdistan was chosen as one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review
and Time magazine
, as well as a book of the year by the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune
, San Francisco Chronicle
and many other publications. In June 2010, Shteyngart was named as one of The New Yorker
magazine's "20 under 40" luminary fiction writers. Super Sad True Love Story
won the 2010 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize
for comic literature.
(2002), Absurdistan (2006), and Super Sad True Love Story
(2010). His other writing has appeared in The New Yorker
, Slate
, Granta
, Travel and Leisure, and The New York Times
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer born in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
, USSR. Much of his work is satirical and relies on the invention of elaborately fictitious yet somehow familiar places and times.
Life
Shteyngart spent the first seven years of his childhood living in a square dominated by a huge statue of Vladimir LeninVladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
in what is now St. Petersburg, Russia; (he alternately calls it "St. Leningrad" or "St. Leninsburg"). He comes from a Jewish family and describes his family as typically Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. His father worked as an engineer in a LOMO
LOMO
LOMO or Leningrad Optical Mechanical Amalgamation is a manufacturer of advanced optical instruments, medical equipment, consumer still and movie cameras, projectors, lenses, film editors, splicers, professional sound recorders for motion-picture production based in St. Petersburg, Russia...
camera factory; his mother was a pianist. Shteyngart emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1979 and was brought up with no television in the apartment in which he lived, where English was not the household language. He did not shed his thick Russian accent until the age of 14.
Shteyngart took a trip to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, and this experience helped spawn his first novel, set in the fictitious European city of Prava. He is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, where he earned a degree in politics, and Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
of the City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
, where he earned an MFA in Creative Writing.
Shteyngart now lives in the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. He has taught writing at Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
, and currently teaches writing at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
.
Gary Shteyngart was a Citigroup Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin
American Academy in Berlin
The American Academy in Berlin is a research and cultural institution in Berlin whose stated mission is to foster a greater understanding and dialogue between the people of the United States and the people of Germany.The American Academy was founded in September 1994 by a group of prominent...
, Germany, for Fall 2007.
Awards
Shteyngart's work has received numerous awards. The Russian Debutante's HandbookThe Russian Debutante's Handbook
The Russian Debutante's Handbook was the debut novel by author Gary Shteyngart, published in 2002. It follows the exploits of young Russians both in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan and the European city of Prava ....
won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, the Book-of-the-Month Club First Fiction Award and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. It was named a New York Times Notable Book and one of the best debuts of the year by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
In 2002, he was named one of the five best new writers by Shout NY
Shout NY
Shout NY was a thought and culture magazine that covered New York arts, music, film and politics from 1998 through 2003. In its early days , it was fairly obscure and predominantly focused on New York City nightlife...
Magazine. Absurdistan was chosen as one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
and Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, as well as a book of the year by the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
and many other publications. In June 2010, Shteyngart was named as one of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
magazine's "20 under 40" luminary fiction writers. Super Sad True Love Story
Super Sad True Love Story
Super Sad True Love Story is the third novel by American writer Gary Shteyngart. The novel takes place in a near-future dystopian New York where life is dominated by media and retail.-Plot Summary:...
won the 2010 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize
Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize
The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize is the UK's only literary award for comic literature. Established in 2000 and named in honour of P G Wodehouse, past winners include Paul Torday in 2007 with Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and Marina Lewycka with A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian 2005 and...
for comic literature.
Work
Shteyngart's novels include The Russian Debutante's HandbookThe Russian Debutante's Handbook
The Russian Debutante's Handbook was the debut novel by author Gary Shteyngart, published in 2002. It follows the exploits of young Russians both in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan and the European city of Prava ....
(2002), Absurdistan (2006), and Super Sad True Love Story
Super Sad True Love Story
Super Sad True Love Story is the third novel by American writer Gary Shteyngart. The novel takes place in a near-future dystopian New York where life is dominated by media and retail.-Plot Summary:...
(2010). His other writing has appeared in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
, Granta
Granta
Granta is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centers on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real." In 2007, The Observer stated, "In its blend of...
, Travel and Leisure, and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
External links
- Biography at barnesandnoble.com
- "Gary Shteyngart Becomes American" from Jewcy Magazine
- Interview with Georgetown's Program for Jewish Civilization
- Interview: 'On Meat over Meat: Dinner with Gary Shteyngart,' published in GiganticGigantic (magazine)Gigantic is an American literary journal that publishes fiction, art and interviews. In particular, it focuses on short prose or flash fiction. Print issues also have included a special poetry section entitled "The Seizure State," curated by celebrated American poet Joe Wenderoth. It publishes...
- Interview in the Forward
- Interview at Web del Sol.
- Interview from Modern Drunkard MagazineModern Drunkard MagazineModern Drunkard Magazine is a sporadically released glossy color periodical promoting the "functional alcoholic's" lifestyle. Created in 1996, it has slowly gained notoriety, and currently enjoys a circulation of roughly 50,000. The magazine's creator, Frank Kelly Rich, is also listed as the...
titled '10 Drinks with Gary Shteyngart' - "Absurdistan", by Gary Shteyngart – Russian Unorthodox, review by Walter KirnWalter KirnWalter Kirn is an American novelist, literary critic, and essayist. His latest book is the 2009 memoir Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever.-Overview:...
, New York Times, April 30, 2006 - With Zadie Smith at McNally Robinson
- Interview with Gary Shteyngart about Absurdistan, English and Italian version. BOOKSWEB TV
- Over There by Gary Shteyngart from Granta 84
- Interview with Gary Shteyngart: On Travel Writing
- http://therumpus.net/2009/10/james-francos-face/?full=yes
- Interview with Gary Shteyngart: On Stuyvesant High School
- Radio interview with Gary Shteyngart on CBC Radio OneCBC Radio OneCBC Radio One is the English language news and information radio network of the publicly-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial free and offers both local and national programming...
's Writers and CompanyWriters and CompanyWriters & Company is a Canadian radio show that airs Sunday afternoons on CBC Radio One. Hosted by Eleanor Wachtel, the program broadcasts interviews with Canadian and international writers....