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David Ebershoff

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David Ebershoff is an American-born writer, editor, and teacher. Born in Pasadena, California in 1969, he is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Chicago, and studied at Keio University in Tokyo.

He published his first novel, The Danish Girl, in 2000. It is based on the life of Lili Elbe, the first person to undergo sex reassignment surgery. Producer Gail Mutrux ("Kinsey") is adapting the novel for the screen, with Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron to star. The novel won the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Lambda Literary Award. It was also a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award and an American Library Association Award and was a New York Times Notable book. He published his first collection of short stories, The Rose City, in 2001. It won the Ferro-Grumley Award, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and was named one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times. His second novel, Pasadena, was published in 2002 and was a New York Times bestseller. His fiction has been translated into a fifteen languages and published around the world to critical acclaim.

Random House published his third novel, The 19th Wife, on August 5, 2008, to much acclaim. It immediately hit a number of bestseller lists including that of the New York Times. The novel is about one of Brigham Young's plural wives, Ann Eliza Young, as well as polygamy in the United States today. Publishers Weekly called it "an exquisite tour-de-force" and Kirkus Reviews said it was "reminiscent of Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose in scope and ambition", while the Los Angeles Times praised it by saying "it does that thing all good novels do: it entertains us."

Ebershoff is editor-at-large at Random House, where he edits a wide range of writers including novelists David Mitchell, Charles Bock, Gary Shteyngart, Phil LaMarche, poet Billy Collins, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Shirin Ebadi, journalist Azadeh Moaveni, and historians Hugh Thomas and Ronald C. White, Jr.. Ebershoff was Jane Jacobs's editor on her final two books and was Norman Mailer's editor for the last five years of his life. Working with Truman Capote's estate, he oversees the Capote publications for Random House, and was the editor of The Complete Stories of Truman Capote, Summer Crossing, and Portraits and Observations. He was formerly the publishing director of Random House's classics imprint, the Modern Library. He also writes for Conde Nast Traveler.

Ebershoff has taught writing at NYU and Princeton, and currently teaches literature in the MFA program at Columbia University. He lives in New York City.

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