Stewart O'Nan
Encyclopedia
Life and work
Born on February 4, 1961 to John Lee O'Nan and Mary Ann O'Nan, née Smith. He and his brother were raised in PittsburghPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
.
He earned his B.S.
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
in 1983. While in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, O'Nan became a fan of the Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. On October 27, 1984, he married Trudy Anne Southwick, his high school sweetheart. They moved to Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and he went to work for Grumman Aerospace Corporation in Bethpage, New York
Bethpage, New York
Bethpage is a hamlet located on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, United States, as well as a census-designated place with borders slightly different from those of the hamlet...
, as a test engineer from 1984 to 1988.
Encouraged by his wife to pursue a career in writing, they moved to Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, and O'Nan returned to college and graduated with his M.F.A.
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in 1992. He and his family moved to Edmond, Oklahoma
Edmond, Oklahoma
Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the population was 81,405, making it the sixth largest city in the state of Oklahoma....
, and he taught at the University of Central Oklahoma
University of Central Oklahoma
The University of Central Oklahoma, often referred to as UCO, is a coeducational public university located in Edmond, Oklahoma. The university is the third largest in Oklahoma, with almost 18,000 students and approximately 434 full-time and 400 adjunct faculty...
and the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
.
O'Nan's first book, and only collection of short stories, In the Walled City, was awarded the 1993 Drue Heinz Literature Prize
Drue Heinz Literature Prize
The Drue Heinz Literature Prize is a major American literary award for short fiction in the English language.This prize of the University of Pittsburgh Press in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA was initiated in 1981 by Mrs. Drue Heinz and developed by Frederick A. Hetzel...
. The same year, he 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. In 2007 Snow Angels was adapted for a film of the same title
Snow Angels (film)
Snow Angels is a 2007 drama film starring Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale. It was directed by David Gordon Green, who also wrote the screenplay adapted from Stewart O'Nan's 1994 novel of the same title. The film premiered in the dramatic competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival...
, directed by David Gordon Green
David Gordon Green
David Gordon Green is an American filmmaker. He has directed dramas such as George Washington, All the Real Girls, and Snow Angels, as well as the thriller Undertow, all of which he wrote or co-wrote...
, who also wrote the screenplay, and starring Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...
and Kate Beckinsale
Kate Beckinsale
Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing while still a student at Oxford University...
.
In 1995 he and his family moved to Avon, Connecticut
Avon, Connecticut
Avon is a town in the Farmington Valley region of Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. , the town had a population of 18,098.Avon is a suburb of Hartford. Avon Old Farms School, a prestigious boarding school, is located there. In 2005, Avon was named the third-safest town in America by...
. He was a writer-in-residence and taught creative writing at Trinity College
Trinity College (Connecticut)
Trinity College is a private, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University. The college enrolls 2,300 students and has been coeducational since 1969. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, and has...
in nearby Hartford
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
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
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
memoirs as a form of literature, which he also initially taught. In 1996, 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...
named him one of America's Best Young Novelists.
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."
When he researched The Circus Fire, he advertised in The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is a morning newspaper for most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury...
and received more than 500 answers to his request for interviews with survivors of the Hartford Circus fire
Hartford Circus Fire
The Hartford Circus Fire, which occurred on July 6, 1944, in Hartford, Connecticut, was one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States...
.
In the spring of 2005 O'Nan spoke at the Lucy Robbins Welles Library in Newington, Connecticut
Newington, Connecticut
Newington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2000 census, it had a total population of 29,306. The Connecticut Department of Transportation has its headquarters in Newington....
, as the featured author in their One Book 4 Towns program. When asked about Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
Faithful is a book co-written by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan. It chronicles exchanges between King and O'Nan about the Red Sox's season, beginning with an e-mail in summer 2003, and throughout the 2004 season, from Spring Training to the World Series...
, the book he co-authored with Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, O'Nan replied, "Who would have thought that writing a book about the Red Sox would be the luckiest thing I ever did in my life."
In 2008, Lonely Road Books
Lonely Road Books
Lonely Road Books is a small press publishing company founded in 2007 by Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar and based out of Forest Hill, Maryland. They are a publishing company that specializes in deluxe signed limited edition books...
sold out their 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
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
. 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
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
, and frontispieces by Jill Bauman
Jill Bauman
Jill Bauman is best known as an artist. She has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award five times and nominated for the Chesley Award several times. Her art has been exhibited at the Delaware Art Museum, the Moore College of Art, Art Students League of New York, the NY Illustrators Society &...
.
Novels
- Transmission (Arjuna Library, 1987)
- Snow Angels (Doubleday, 1994)
- The Names of the Dead (Doubleday, 1996)
- The Speed Queen (Doubleday, 1997)
- A World Away (Henry Holt, 1998)
- A Prayer for the Dying (Henry Holt, 1999)
- Everyday PeopleEveryday People (novel)Everyday People is a novel by the American writer Stewart O'Nan.It is set in 1998 in East Liberty and brings together the stories of its residents, mostly African-American during one fateful week in the early fall...
(Grove Press, 2001) - Wish You Were Here (Grove Press, 2002)
- The Night Country (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003)
- The Good Wife (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005)
- Last Night at the Lobster (Viking, 2007)
- Songs for the Missing (Viking, October 2008)
- Emily Alone (Viking, March 2011)
- The Odds (Viking, January 2012)
Nonfiction
- The Circus Fire (Doubleday, 2000)
- Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 SeasonFaithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 SeasonFaithful is a book co-written by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan. It chronicles exchanges between King and O'Nan about the Red Sox's season, beginning with an e-mail in summer 2003, and throughout the 2004 season, from Spring Training to the World Series...
(with Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
) (Scribner, 2004)
As editor
- 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)
External links
- Official Website: The Works of Stewart O'Nan
- 1997 Interview by Ron Hogan from Beatrice
- "The Lost World of Richard Yates: How the great writer of the Age of Anxiety disappeared from print" an essay by O'Nan in Boston ReviewBoston ReviewBoston Review is a bimonthly American political and literary magazine. The magazine covers, specifically, political debates, literature, and poetry...