David Means

{{Short description|American short story writer and novelist}} {{Infobox writer  | image = DavidMeans3.JPG | imagesize = 200px | name = David Means | caption = Means speaking in New York, 2013}}

'''David Means''' (born October 17, 1961)<ref name=LOC>{{cite web|title=Assorted fire events : stories |url=http://lccn.loc.gov/00133360 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121213082732/http://lccn.loc.gov/00133360 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 13, 2012 |work=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=July 22, 2011 }}</ref> is an American short story writer and novelist based in [[Nyack, New York]]. His stories have appeared in many publications, including ''[[Esquire Magazine|Esquire]]'', ''[[The New Yorker]]'', and ''[[Harper's]]''. They are frequently set in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] or the [[Rust Belt]], or along the Hudson River in New York.

==Biography== Born in [[Kalamazoo, Michigan]], Means graduated from [[Loy Norrix High School]] in 1980.<ref name=Castranova>{{cite news|last=Michael Chevy|first=Castranova|title=David Means explores stories of 'victims': Former Kalamazoo writer seeks a darker perspective|url=http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/08/david_means_explores_stories_o.html|access-date=July 22, 2011|newspaper=[[Kalamazoo Gazette|The Kalamazoo Gazette]]|date=August 8, 2010}}</ref> He received his bachelor's degree in 1984 from the [[College of Wooster]], where his [[College of Wooster#Independent Study program|I.S.]] was "Bullfighting in Boston and other Poems".<ref name=COW>{{cite web |title=I.S. Database |url=http://www.wooster.edu/Independent-Study/Search-the-IS-Database |work=College of Wooster. |access-date=July 22, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722123915/http://www.wooster.edu/Independent-Study/Search-the-IS-Database |archive-date=July 22, 2011 }}</ref> He went to graduate school at [[Columbia University]], where he received an MFA in poetry.<ref name="Powell's">{{cite web|title=David Means Makes It Work|url=http://www.powells.com/blog/interviews/david-means-makes-it-work/|work=Powell's Books|date=October 10, 2006|access-date=July 22, 2011}}</ref> He has been a part-time member of the English department at [[Vassar College]] since 2001. Means is married with two children.<ref name=Castranova />

==Work== ''Contemporary Authors'' writes: "With Means's second collection, ''Assorted Fire Events: Stories'', he was compared favorably to such esteemed writers as [[Raymond Carver]] and [[Alice Munro]] and praised by critics for his sharp prose."<ref>''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2007. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC</ref> James Wood, in ''The London Review of Books'' notes that "Means' language offers an exquisitely precise and sensuous register of an often crazy American reality. Sentences gleaming with lustre are sewn through the stories. One will go a long way with a writer possessed of such skill. You can hear the influence of Flannery O'Connor in Means' prose: in the scintillating shiver of the beautiful imagery, in the lack of sentimentality, in the interest in grotesque violence, and gothic tricksterism." [[Eileen Battersby]] in ''[[The Irish Times]]'' has compared Means' work to that of [[Eudora Welty]] and [[John Cheever]].<ref name=Iowa>{{cite web|title=Oct. 6 WSUI Reading Features Short Story Writer David Means|date=September 22, 2004|url=http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2004/september/092204means-PL.html|work=University News Service|publisher=University of Iowa|access-date=July 22, 2011|archive-date=October 1, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001091505/http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2004/september/092204means-PL.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Story consultant]] [[Robert McKee]] said, "David Means writes short stories, I suspect, because his arsenal of prose techniques is so diverse, he needs hundreds of tellings to explore them all."<ref>{{cite book|last =McKee|first = Robert|date =2016|title =Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for the Page, Stage, and Screen|location = New York|publisher = Twelve|page=80|isbn =9781455591916 }}</ref>

His first novel ''Hystopia'' was long listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/69442-war-is-hell-pw-talks-with-david-means.html|title=War Is Hell: PW Talks with David Means|work=PublishersWeekly.com}}</ref>

==Bibliography== {{Incomplete list |date=March 2024}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}} [[File:DavidMeans&KarlGreenfeld1.JPG|thumb|250px|Means with [[Karl Greenfeld]], 2013.]]

=== Novels === * ''[[Hystopia]]'' (2016) {{ISBN|9780865479135}}

=== Short fiction=== ====Collections==== *''A Quick Kiss of Redemption'' (1991) {{ISBN|9780688094591}} *''Assorted Fire Events'' (2000) {{ISBN|9781893956056}} *''The Secret Goldfish'' (2004) {{ISBN|9780007164899}} *''The Spot'' (2010) {{ISBN|9780865479128}} *''Instructions for a Funeral'' (2019) {{ISBN|9780374279813}} *''Two Nurses, Smoking'' (2022) {{ISBN|9780374606077}} ====Appearances in anthologies==== *''Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, "Found" Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts'', edited by David Shields and Matthew Vollmer, W. W. Norton, 2012

== Awards == *[[Los Angeles Times Book Prize]] (2000) for ''Assorted Fire Events''<ref name=LATimes>{{cite web|title=2000 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winners|url=http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/previous-winners/year-2000/|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=July 22, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704145506/http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/previous-winners/year-2000/|archive-date=July 4, 2011}}</ref> *[[National Book Critics Circle Award]] (Finalist, 2000) for ''Assorted Fire Events''<ref name=NBCC>{{cite web|title=All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists - Page 2|url=http://bookcritics.org/awards/past_awards/page_2|work=National Book Critics Circle|access-date=July 22, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180223040500/http://bookcritics.org/awards/past_awards/page_2/|archive-date=February 23, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> *[[Pushcart Prize]] (2001)<ref name=Castranova /> *[[O. Henry Award|O. Henry Prize]] (2006) for "Sault Ste. Marie"<ref name="O'Henry2006">{{cite web|title=The O. Henry Prize Stories 2006|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/book/57126/the-o-henry-prize-stories-2006-by-laura-furman/9781400095391/#tableofcontents|work=Random House|access-date=July 22, 2011}}</ref> *[[Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award]] (Shortlist, 2005) for ''The Secret Goldfish''<ref name=Crown>{{cite news|last=Crown|first=Sarah|title=Inaugural short story award goes to debut author|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/sep/26/news.awardsandprizes|access-date=July 22, 2011|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=September 26, 2005}}</ref> *O. Henry Prize (2011) for "The Junction"<ref name="O'Henry2011">{{cite web|title=The O. Henry Prize Stories 2011|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/anchor/ohenry/winners/|work=The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories|publisher=Anchor Books|access-date=July 22, 2011}}</ref> *PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story (2025)<ref>https://www.penfaulkner.org/2025/06/09/david-means-wins-the-2025-pen-malamud-award-for-excellence-in-the-short-story</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == *[http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/stray-questions-for-david-means New York Times interview with David Means] *[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/07/the-exchange-david-means.html New Yorker interview with David Means] *[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/nov/27/spot-stories-david-means-review The Guardian (London) review of The Spot] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20111003193049/http://mediasearch.wnyc.org/m/32001480/the-spot.htm Leonard Lopate Show radio interview with David Means] *[http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/books/72134/the-spot Time Out review of The Spot] *[http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/printers-row/2010/05/review-the-spot-by-david-means.html Chicago Tribune review of The Spot] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512223852/http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/printers-row/2010/05/review-the-spot-by-david-means.html |date=2014-05-12 }} *[http://bookmunch.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/why-don't-you-ask-bob-dylan-or-bruce-springsteen-when-they're-going-to-write-a-symphony-interview-with-david-means-author-of-the-spot/ Interview with David Means]{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} * [http://www.esquire.com/fiction/ESQ0207Elective "Elective Mute" (Story)] from [[Esquire Magazine|Esquire]] * Ponteri, Jay. [https://web.archive.org/web/20061003204356/http://www.loggernaut.org/interviews/davidmeans/ "David Means and the Secret Mystery"]. ''[[Loggernaut]]'', 2005. Long interview discussing the author's work. *[http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw011115david_means/media_player_archives?action=listen Radio interview in which David Means discusses his book ''Assorted Fire Events'' and reads his short story ''The Woodcutter''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080924233354/http://www.powells.com/authors/means.html Interview at Powells.com] * [http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/03/15/100315fi_fiction_means Short story "The Knocking" at ''The New Yorker''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110913100142/http://us.macmillan.com/thespot 2010 Short story collection "The Spot"] *[https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/27/books/books-of-the-times-husks-of-lives-under-an-impassive-great-lakes-sky.html New York Times Review of The Secret Goldfish] *[https://may-on-the-short-story.blogspot.com/search/label/David%20Means Essay about stories by David Means] *[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marina-cashdan/the-mental-states-of-geor_b_813466.html Artist George Condo on David Means] *[http://www.newyorker.com/online/2010/10/18/101018on_audio_means David Means reads "Chef's House" by Raymond Carver/New Yorker/short interview]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Means, David}} [[Category:1961 births]] [[Category:American short story writers]] [[Category:College of Wooster alumni]] [[Category:Columbia University School of the Arts alumni]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Writers from Kalamazoo, Michigan]] [[Category:People from Nyack, New York]] [[Category:The New Yorker people]] [[Category:Vassar College faculty]]