Joe Meno is a novelist, writer of short fiction, playwright, and music journalist based in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

.

Biography

After attending Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...

, Meno spent time working as a flower delivery truck driver and art therapy teacher at a juvenile detention center. His first novel Tender as Hellfire was published when he was only 24 and received strong reviews from sources like Library Journal

Library Journal

Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...

. His short fiction has appeared in literary magazines like Tri-Quarterly, Ninth Letter

Ninth Letter

Ninth Letter is a literary magazine that publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. It is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the and the Creative Writing Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ninth Letter exists in two related but distinct forms: a biannual print...

, Joyland: A hub for short fiction

Joyland: A hub for short fiction

Joyland: A hub for short fiction is a website for short stories. It was created by authors Emily Schultz and Brian Joseph Davis and its editorial structure is uniquely distributed across eight North American cities and regions. Notable contributors have included Jonathan Lethem, Lydia Millet,...

, and Other Voices. Meno's work is known for the use of natural language and realistic dialogue, as well as frequent forays into absurdity. He currently teaches fiction writing at Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...

. He is a frequent contributor to Punk Planet magazine, where his comic strip Iceberg Town is featured.

Selected bibliography

• Tender as Hellfire
  Tender as Hellfire
  Tender as Hellfire is a debut novel by Chicago author Joe Meno. Released by Punk Planet books in 1999. Meno limns a near-fantastical world of trailer park floozies, broken-down '76 Impalas, lost glass eyes, and the daily experiences of two boys trying to make sense of their random, sharp...
  
  . Akashic Books, 2007/St. Martin's Press, 1999.
• How the Hula Girl Sings
  How the Hula Girl Sings
  How the Hula Girl Sings is the second novel by Chicago author Joe Meno. Released by Punk Planet books in 2001.-Plot summary:A young ex-con in a small Illinois town. A lonely giant with a haunted past. A beautiful girl with a troubled heart...
  
  . Akashic Books, 2005/ReganBooks, 2001.
• Hairstyles of the Damned
  Hairstyles of the Damned
  Hairstyles of the Damned is the third novel by Chicago author Joe Meno. Released by Punk Planet Books in 2004, it has sold over 80,000 copies in ten printings. It has been optioned for film by Focus Features.-Plot summary:...
  
  . Akashic Books, 2004.
• Bluebirds Used to Croon the Choir: Stories
  Bluebirds Used to Croon the Choir: Stories
  Bluebirds Used to Croon the Choir: Stories is a jazzy collection of short stories and little moments from genre-hopping Chicago author Joe Meno...
  
  . Northwestern University Press, 2005.
• The Boy Detective Fails
  The Boy Detective Fails
  The Boy Detective Fails is the fourth novel by Chicago authorJoe Meno, released by Punk Planet Books in 2006.-Plot summary:In the twilight of a childhood full of wonder, Billy Argo, Boy detective, is brokenhearted to find his young sister and crime-solving partner, Caroline, has committed suicide....
  
  . Akashic Books, 2006.
• Demons in the Spring
  Demons in the Spring
  Demons in the Spring is a collection of twenty short stories by Chicago author Joe Meno. Released by Punk Planet books in 2008, with illustrations by twenty artists including Charles Burns, Archer Prewitt, Ivan Brunetti, Jay Ryan, Paul Hornschemeier, Anders Nilsen, Geoff McFedtridge, Kelsey...
  
  . Akashic Books, 2008.
• The Great Perhaps. W. W. Norton, 2009.

Plays

• The Boy Detective Fails.
• Once Upon a Time or the Secret Language of Birds.
• Star Witness.

Awards

Nelson Algren

Nelson Algren

Nelson Algren was an American writer.-Early life:Algren was born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Goldie and Gerson Abraham. At the age of three he moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois where they lived in a working-class, immigrant neighborhood on the South Side...

 Award, 2003 a prize for short fiction given by the 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...

.

Hairstyles of the Damned

Hairstyles of the Damned

Hairstyles of the Damned is the third novel by Chicago author Joe Meno. Released by Punk Planet Books in 2004, it has sold over 80,000 copies in ten printings. It has been optioned for film by Focus Features.-Plot summary:...

was selected for the Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...

 Discover Great New Writers program for its November 2004-January 2005 season.

Bluebirds Used to Croon in the Choir was selected as the winner of the Society of Midland Author's Award for Fiction 2005.

Demons in the Spring was a finalist for The Story Prize

Story Prize

The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Eligible books must be written in English and first published in the United States during a calendar...

 in 2009.

The Great Perhaps was a winner of the Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction in 2009 and a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice.

External links

• JoeMeno.com
• Video: A message from Joe Meno about The Great Perhaps
• Author Profile on Akashic Books Online
• Interview on Bookslut.com
• Fogged Clarity's Interview with Joe Meno (June, 2009)
• Interview on Centerstage Chicago (October 2006)