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Ben Loory

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Ben Loory
Ben Loory, 2009
BornJuly 11, 1971
Dover, New Jersey
OccupationWriter
NationalityAmerican
GenreLiterary fiction, fantasy, horror
Website
benloory.com

Ben Loory (born July 11, 1971) is an American short fiction writer. He is the author of the collections Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day (Penguin, 2011) and Tales of Falling and Flying (Penguin, 2017), as well as a picture book for children, The Baseball Player and the Walrus (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2015). Loory’s stories have appeared in over one hundred journals and magazines including The New Yorker, BOMB Magazine, Fairy Tale Review, and TriQuarterly, and been heard on This American Life and Selected Shorts. He lives and teaches short story writing in Los Angeles.

Education

Raised in Dover, New Jersey, Loory attended Dover High School.[1][2]

Loory graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude in 1993 with a BA in Visual & Environmental Studies, and earned an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in 1996.

Short fiction and other writing

Loory's first collection, Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day, was published by Penguin in 2011.[3] It was a Fall Selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program[4] and an August Selection of the Starbucks Coffee Bookish Reading Club.[5] Loory's second collection, Tales of Falling and Flying, was published by Penguin in 2017.[6] It earned a starred review from Kirkus,[7] was called "mesmerizing and magical" by NPR,[8] and was named a Favorite Book of the Year by the staff of the Paris Review.[9] It has since been called one of the "50 Best Fantasy Books of All Time" by Esquire Magazine,[10] and one of the "25 Best Fantasy Books of All Time" by Good Housekeeping.[11]

Loory has published more than one hundred short stories in magazines and journals including The New Yorker,[12] Electric Literature,[13] Uncharted Magazine,[14] The Kenyon Review,[15] Tin House,[16] Sewanee Review,[17] The Adroit Journal,[18] A Public Space,[19] Fairy Tale Review,[20] Wigleaf,[21] Craft Literary,[22] BOMB Magazine,[23] and TriQuarterly.[24] His story "The TV" was named a Distinguished Story of the Year in The 2011 Best American Short Stories anthology.[25]

Three of Loory's stories ("The Duck," "The Man and the Moose," and "Death and the Fruits of the Tree") have been heard on This American Life,[26] and many more have been performed at Selected Shorts,[27] including "The Book," "The TV," and "The Man and the Moose" from Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day,[28] and "The Dodo," "The Cape," "The Frog and the Bird," "The Monster," "Death and the Lady," and "The Man, the Restaurant, and the Eiffel Tower" from Tales of Falling and Flying.[29] On December 12, 2018, a dance adaptation of Loory's story "The Cape," choreographed by Gabrielle Lamb of Pigeonwing Dance, was performed at Symphony Space in New York as part of the Selected Shorts "Dance in America" event,[30] and on March 26, 2022, a short film by animator Michael Arthur inspired by Loory's story "Dandelions" was shown as part of the "Wall to Wall Selected Shorts" event.[31]

As a screenwriter, Loory has worked for Jodie Foster, Alex Proyas, Mark Johnson, and others. He has also contributed creative non-fiction to the online arts and culture magazine The Nervous Breakdown.

Music

Loory is also a musician. He was a member of Soda & his Million Piece Band, in which he played mandolin and baritone saxophone. Their music was featured in the soundtrack for the film Waitress (2007), directed by Adrienne Shelly.

Works

  • Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day (2011)
  • The Baseball Player and the Walrus (2015)
  • Tales of Falling and Flying (2017)

References

  1. ^ Smith, Bud. "Ben Loory Interview", Hobart Pulp, May 28, 2018. Accessed March 6, 2021. "I grew up in a small town called Dover, which is about a half hour west of New York, off Route 46."
  2. ^ O'Dea, Colleen. "Young playwrights stage plots at workshop", Daily Record, November 14, 1985. Accessed March 21, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "'"I thought we could just take a story and turn it into a play, but this is a lot harder,' said Ben Loory, a ninth-grader from Dover High School, who wrote a play last week entitled 'A Viking Story Kind Of,' which he plans to submit to the statewide competition."
  3. ^ Loory, Ben (2011). Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day. ISBN 978-0143119500.
  4. ^ "Discover great new writers".
  5. ^ "Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory - Read great books by top authors for FREE while at Starbucks". Archived from the original on August 25, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  6. ^ results, search (September 5, 2017). Tales of Falling and Flying. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143130109.
  7. ^ TALES OF FALLING AND FLYING by Ben Loory | Kirkus Reviews.
  8. ^ "People and Animals, 'Falling and Flying,' Make for a Hypnotic Read". NPR.
  9. ^ "The Paris Review Staff's Favorite Books of 2017". The Paris Review. December 22, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  10. ^ "The 50 Best Fantasy Books of All Time". Esquire. March 11, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
  11. ^ "If You Love 'Lord of the Rings," You Need to Read the Condor Trilogy". Good Housekeeping. May 15, 2023. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
  12. ^ Loory, Ben (April 5, 2010). "The TV". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  13. ^ "If You Remodel It, They Will Come – Electric Literature". Electric Literature. June 11, 2018. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  14. ^ "The Man with the Hand of Gold". Uncharted. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  15. ^ "The Friend with the Knife in His Back | Kenyon Review Online". The Kenyon Review. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  16. ^ "The Ostrich and The Aliens | Tin House". Tin House. June 5, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  17. ^ "The Wheelbarrow". The Sewanee Review. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  18. ^ "Issue Thirty: Ben Loory | The Adroit Journal - The Adroit Journal". October 12, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  19. ^ "The Magic Mountain". A Public Space. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  20. ^ "The Lemon Tree | Fairy Tale Review". www.fairytalereview.com. May 23, 2018. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  21. ^ "Loory: 'Mystery (The Third Man)'". wigleaf.com. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  22. ^ Loory, Ben (February 11, 2022). "Bear by Ben Loory". CRAFT. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  23. ^ ""God" by Ben Loory".
  24. ^ "The White Bird of the Forest". TriQuarterly. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  25. ^ Brooks, Geraldine; Pitlor, Heidi, eds. (October 4, 2011). The Best American Short Stories 2011 (1st ed.). Boston: Mariner Books. ISBN 9780547242163.
  26. ^ "Archive - This American Life". This American Life. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  27. ^ ""The TV" on Selected Shorts". Ben Loory. July 31, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  28. ^ "Books". Ben Loory. February 21, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
  29. ^ "Books". Ben Loory. February 21, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
  30. ^ "Selected Shorts: Dance in America".
  31. ^ "Wall To Wall Selected Shorts". Symphony Space. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
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