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Ethan Gilsdorf

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Ethan Gilsdorf
File:Pbs ethan.jpg
Ethan Gilsdorf in an appearance on the PBS "Off Book" web series in 2013
Born (1966-09-29) September 29, 1966 (age 57)
Dover, New Hampshire, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materHampshire College, Louisiana State University
Occupation(s)writer, journalist, teacher, performer, poet, critic, nerd
AwardsBest American Essays 2016 (Notable Essays), Hobblestock Peace Poetry Competition, Esme Bradberry Contemporary Poets Prize
Websitewww.ethangilsdorf.com

Ethan Gilsdorf (born September 29, 1966) is an American writer, poet, performer, editor, critic, teacher and journalist.

Gilsdorf is the author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms (The Lyons Press).[1]

Life

Gilsdorf was born in Dover, New Hampshire, and raised in the nearby town of Lee. He has lived in Northampton and Amherst, Massachusetts; Brattleboro, Vermont; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Paris, France; and currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island. He attended Oyster River High School in Durham, New Hampshire, and received his B.A. from Hampshire College and his MFA from Louisiana State University.

Career

Journalism and Essays

During a five year stay in Paris from 1999 to 2004, Gilsdorf got his start in journalism as a freelance travel, hotel, food and film writer for Fodor's travel guides and Time Out.

He went on to publish travel, arts, and pop culture stories, essays and reviews regularly in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Salon, and Wired, and has published hundreds of articles and op-eds in dozens of other magazines, newspapers, websites and guidebooks worldwide, including CNN, io9.com, Playboy, National Geographic Traveler, Psychology Today, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times. He is a contributor to the blogs "GeekDad" (formerly at Wired.com), "Geek Pride" on PsychologyToday.com, and Boston NPR affiliate WBUR's Cognoscenti and TheARTery.

His book reviews appear frequently in The New York Times Book Review and Boston Globe, and he is the film columnist for Art New England.

His essay "The Day My Mother Became a Stranger," published in Boston Magazine, was listed in Best American Essays 2016 as a "Notable Essay."

Gilsdorf has contributed to the several books, including the writing craft books Braving the Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Loss; Create Your Writer Platform: The Key to Building an Audience, Selling More Books, and Finding Success as an Author; the textbook Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing (8th edition). He has also contributed to Fodor's Paris; Fodor's France; Time Out Paris Eating and Drinking.

Memoir

Gilsdorf is the author of the award-winning travel memoir-pop culture investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms]], published by Lyons Press in 2009. The book is a work of travel literature, memoir and immersion journalism that explores fantasy and gaming subcultures. The book was named a Must-Read Book by the Massachusetts Book Awards.[2]

According to The Huffington Post, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks is "full of encounters, both funny and poignant." National Public Radio’s “Around and About” describes the book as "Lord of the Rings meets Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.” [3] The subject matter ranges from Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) gamers and live-action role-players, or LARPers, to Harry Potter wizard rockers and World of Warcraft players.[4] Other subcultures and events the book investigates: the legacy of Gary Gygax, The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) and Pennsic War, DragonCon (aka Dragon*Con), a French castle-building project called Guedelon, J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit fandom, and a journey to New Zealand to see The Lord of the Rings film locations.[5] Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks also explores Gilsdorf's own lifelong (and at times twisted) relationship to fantasy and gaming.[6]

Poetry and fiction

As a poet, he is the winner of the Hobblestock Peace Poetry Competition and the Esmé Bradberry Contemporary Poets Prize, and has published poems in Poetry, The Southern Review, the North American Review Exquisite Corpse, The Massachusetts Review, and several national and international anthologies, including Outsiders: Poems about Rebels, Exiles, and Renegades; Radio Waves: Poems Celebrating the Wireless; Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry; 100 Poets Against the War; In the Criminal's Cabinet: An Anthology of Poetry and Fiction; and Future Welcome: The Moosehead Anthology 10.

His fiction has appeared in The Quarterly, among other publications.

Teaching

He is co-founder of Grub Street, Inc.'s Young Adult Writers Program (YAWP), where he also leads creative writing workshops for adults in journalism, travel writing and essay writing, and poetry, as well as book promotion and writing career planning [7]. He also serves on GrubStreet's Board of Directors.

He has also taught creative writing and journalism at Louisiana State University, Emerson College,[8] and Mediabistro.com.

He teaches writing in public schools and community centers in the Boston and Providence area.

Performances, media appearancws and speaking

Gilsdorf frequently appears on NPR stations such as WGBH, WBUR, and Wisconsin Public Radio, and has appeared on The Discovery Channel, PBS, CBC, BBC, the Learning Channel, the French TV network Arte, in documentary films, on podcasts, and has been interviewed by publications in Canada, Argentina, Brazil, France and other countries.

He lectures at schools, festivals, conventions, conferences worldwide, and universities such as Harvard, MIT, and La Sorbonne, the New York Public Library.

He speaks frequently at conventions (such as Pax, Gen Con and DragonCon), universities, and book festivals nationwide. Gilsdorf is also a regular presenter, performer, moderator and host for Mortified, Four Stories, PAX East, the Harvard Book Store, and other venues.

His TEDx talk "Why Dungeons & Dragons is Good for You (In Real Life)" was given at the 2016 TEDxPiscataquaRiver event.


Community Service

Gilsdorf serves on the Boston Book Festival Program Committee. He is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics. He is also on the Advisory Council of The Game Academy (in San Francisco).

Works

Books

Essays

Poems

Awards

References

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2011-01-27. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ http://www.massbook.org/MassBooks10/MustReadNonFiction10.pdf
  3. ^ http://www.wordbrooklyn.com/book/9781599219943
  4. ^ https://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Freaks-Gaming-Geeks-Imaginary/product-reviews/1599219948
  5. ^ http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2010/08/28/38130-fantasy-freaks-and-gaming-geeks-hits-paperback/
  6. ^ Diaz, Johnny (2009-01-10). "The never-ending story". The Boston Globe.
  7. ^ http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=55#anchor
  8. ^ http://www2.emerson.edu/writing_lit_publishing/faculty-detail.cfm?facultyID=2763&filter=P

Clausen, Elizabeth (March 18, 2010), "Event to showcase two alumni authors", The Daily Reveille, retrieved 2010-03-26[permanent dead link]

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