Jonathan Strong (author)

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Jonathan Strong
picture of Jonathan Strong
BornAugust 13, 1944
OccupationAmerican Author

Jonathan Strong (1944) is an American author of novels and short stories.

Personal life[edit]

Jonathan Strong was born in 1944. He was raised in Winnetka, Illinois, where he attended North Shore Country Day School. He enrolled at Harvard University in 1962, but dropped out in the middle of his senior year as his writing career advanced. He returned to Harvard and earned his bachelor's degree in 1969. That year, he began his long career teaching fiction-writing at Tufts University. Strong lives in Rockport, Massachusetts, and West Corinth, Vermont.[1]

Written work[edit]

Strong's first short story, "Supperburger," was published in the Parisian Review (1966). The following year it won an O. Henry Award.[2] It has since been analogized and, according to literary critic James Morrison, has become "a kind of classic in gay fiction."[3] Strong's first novel, Tike and Five Short Stories (1968),[4] won the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Rosenthal Award. In 1970, Strong's short story "Patients," published in The Atlantic Monthly, won another O. Henry Award. Strong published his second novel, Ourselves,[5] in 1971. Annie Gottlieb, a reviewer for The New York Times, called it "probably the best book yet to come out of my generation."[6] After those early successes, it was fourteen years until Strong published another novel, although he continued to publish stories in periodicals including Esquire and Shenandoah.

His reappearance as a novelist begin with Elsewhere (1985).[7] Strong's next six novels were published with Zoland Books; Secret Words (1993),[8] Companion Pieces (1993),[9] An Untold Tale (1993),[10] Offspring (1995),[11] The Old World (1997),[12] and A Circle Around Her (2000).[13] Zoland stopped publishing new books in 2001.[14] His more recent works, all with small presses, include Drawn from Life (2008),[15] Consolation (2010),[16] More Light (2011),[17] Hawkweed and Indian Paintbrush (2013),[18] The Judge’s House (2015),[19] Quit the Race (2017),[20] and Four Last Songs (2020).[21] In a 2011 interview, Morrison said that Strong was "among the most underrated writers in the country."[22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Jonathan Strong". Quale Press. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  2. ^ "O, Henry Prize Stories: Past Winners List". Anchor Books. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  3. ^ Morrison, James (Fall 2001). "Happiness in a corner: on Jonathan Strong". Michigan Quarterly Review. 50.
  4. ^ Strong, Jonathan (1968). Tike and Five Short Stories. Boston: Atlantic-Little, Brown.
  5. ^ Strong, Jonathan (1971). Ourselves. Boston: Atlantic-Little Brown.
  6. ^ Gottlieb, Annie (September 19, 1971). "Xavy, the neurotic makes progress". The New York Times. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  7. ^ Strong, Jonathan (1985). Elsewhere. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0345319111.
  8. ^ Strong, Jonathan (1993). Secret Worlds. Cambridge: Zoland Books. ISBN 978-0944072110.
  9. ^ Strong, Jonathan (1993). Companion Pieces. Cambridge: Zoland Books.
  10. ^ Strong, Jonathan (1993). An Untold Tale. Cambridge: Zoland Books. ISBN 978-0944072325.
  11. ^ Strong, Jonathan (1995). Offspring. Zolland Books. ISBN 978-0944072554.
  12. ^ Strong, Jonathan (1998). The Old World. Cambridge: Zolland Books.
  13. ^ Strong, Jonathan (2000). A Circle Around Her. Cambridge: Zoland Books. ISBN 978-1581950144.
  14. ^ Rosen, Judith (September 24, 2001). "Zoland to stop publication". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  15. ^ Strong, Jonathan (2008). Drawn From Life. Williamsburg, MA: Quale Press. ISBN 9780979299933.
  16. ^ Strong, Jonathan (2010). Consolation. Boston: Pressed Wafer. ISBN 0982410042.
  17. ^ Strong, Jonathan (2011). More Light. Niantic, CT: Quale Press. ISBN 9781935835042.
  18. ^ Strong, Jonathan (2013). Hawkweed and Indian Paintbrush. Brooklyn, NY: Pressed Wafer. ISBN 9781940396002.
  19. ^ Strong, Jonathan (2015). The Judge's House. Niantic, CT: Quale Press. ISBN 9781935835165.
  20. ^ Strong, Jonathan (2017). Quit the Race. Brooklyn, NY: Pressed Wafer. ISBN 9781940396255.
  21. ^ Strong, Jonathan (2020). Four Last Songs. Grid Books. ISBN 9781946830067.
  22. ^ Balibrera, Gina (December 21, 2011). "Of Sentient Donkeys, Supple Ironies and Artful Digressions: An Interview with James Morrison". Michigan Quarterly Review.