Melissa Bank
Melissa Bank | |
|---|---|
| Born | Melissa Susan Bank October 11, 1960 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | August 2, 2022 (aged 61) East Hampton, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Alma mater | |
| Notable works | The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing |
| Notable awards |
|
| Partner | Todd Dimston |
Melissa Bank (October 11, 1960 – August 2, 2022) was an American author. She published two books—The Wonder Spot, a volume of short stories; and The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, a novel—which have been translated into over 30 languages.[1] Bank was the winner of the 1993 Nelson Algren Award for short fiction.[1] She taught in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton.
Personal life and education
Bank was born in Boston and raised in the Philadelphia suburb of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.[2] Her father, a neurologist, died of leukemia in his late 50s.[3] Bank received a bachelor's degree in American studies Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1982,[4] and graduated with an MFA from Cornell University in 1987.[2][1] Bank's literary influences included Vladimir Nabokov, John Cheever, Billy Collins, and Grace Paley;[1] her favorite non-fiction writer was Janet Malcolm.[3]
Bank divided her time between New York City and East Hampton.[3][1] She was in a longterm relationship with Todd Dimston.[2]
In later years, she suffered from lung cancer, and died at her home in East Hampton on August 2, 2022, at the age of 61.[5]
Career
Bank published short stories and nonfiction in such publications as the Chicago Tribune, Ploughshares, Zoetrope, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Seventeen, as well as being broadcast on National Public Radio and the BBC.[1]
The Girls' Guide to Hunting And Fishing
The Girls' Guide to Hunting And Fishing took Bank twelve years to write.[3] Most of that time Bank worked as a copywriter, focusing on the novel in her spare time.[3] About five years before the book was published, Bank was involved in a serious bicycle accident where she was struck by a car.[2] She landed on her head, and even though she was wearing a helmet, she suffered post-concussion syndrome for almost two years. This condition affected her short-term memory and deprived her of the "top 10 to 15% of [her] vocabulary"; she was unable to order information or perform sequential thinking. Bank had to stop writing the book during this period.[3]
Finally published in 1999, The Girls' Guide to Hunting And Fishing was a bestseller in both the United States and the United Kingdom, garnering mostly positive reviews. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Bank writes like John Cheever, but funnier."[6] Newsweek critic Yahlin Chang wrote, "Bank draws exquisite portraits of loneliness, and she can do it in a sentence."[7] Others placed Bank in the school of restraint exemplified by Hemingway and Raymond Carver.[citation needed]
Publications
- The Wonder Spot – 2005
- "Run run run run run run run away" (short story) – 2005
- "The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine" (short story) – 1999
- The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing – 1999
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Melissa Bank," Archived November 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Red Room. Accessed March 31, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Risen, Clay (August 6, 2022). "Melissa Bank, Whose 'Girls' Guide' Was a Phenomenon, Is Dead at 61". The New York Times. p. B10. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f "A Polished Act (Interview)," The Guardian (July 19, 1999).
- ^ Iovine, Julie V. (July 22, 1999). "AT HOME WITH: MELISSA BANK; So Familiar, So Private". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2013.
- ^ "Melissa Bank, author of 'The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing,' dies at 61". Chicago Sun-Times. Associated Press. August 4, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
- ^ "The Best Books of 1999: The Best Fiction of 1999", Los Angeles Times (December 5, 1999).
- ^ Chang, Yahlin. "A Hot Young Writer You Can Bank On," Newsweek (May 31, 1999).
- 1960 births
- 2022 deaths
- 20th-century American short story writers
- 20th-century American women writers
- 21st-century American novelists
- 21st-century American short story writers
- 21st-century American women writers
- American chick lit writers
- American copywriters
- American short story writers
- American women novelists
- American women short story writers
- Cornell University alumni
- Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)
- Hobart and William Smith Colleges alumni
- Novelists from Pennsylvania
- People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
- Stony Brook University faculty