Jonathan Coleman (author)

Jonathan Coleman
Portrait
Born	1951 (age 72–73) Allentown, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Author

Jonathan Coleman (born 1951 in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American author of literary nonfiction living in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Career

Publishing

Jonathan Coleman worked as a book editor with Knopf and Simon & Schuster. In 1980, in a piece about publishing, he was profiled in Time magazine as one of the best editors in the field.

Teaching

Coleman taught literary nonfiction writing at the University of Virginia and lectures at universities throughout the country.

Literature

Coleman's books have included Exit the Rainmaker (1989), the story of Jay Carsey, a college president who abruptly abandoned his marriage and career and disappeared, a book the Los Angeles Times Book Review called "A fascinating, symbolic statement of the American psyche"; At Mother's Request: A True Story of Money, Murder, and Betrayal, about the Franklin Bradshaw murder (which was hailed as "a masterwork of reporting" by the Washington Post Book World, won an Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America and was made into a CBS miniseries); and Long Way to Go: Black and White in America, which Library Journal called "A stunner....Coleman's narrative technique is superb...a brilliant book."

In 2011, Coleman coauthored the autobiography of basketball legend Jerry West—West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life—which was greeted with critical acclaim (Gay Talese called the book "powerful" and "exceptional" and The New Yorker said it was "deeply thoughtful in a way rare among books by former athletes") and became an instant New York Times bestseller. The Los Angeles Times named it one of the best nonfiction books of 2011. The paperback edition was published in October 2012.

Film and television

Coleman has been a producer and correspondent with CBS News.

Voice work

Coleman currently narrates documentaries and audio books, as well as doing voiceovers for commercials.