# Nathan Englander

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{{short description|American short story writer and novelist}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Nathan Englander
| image = Nathan Englander 2017.jpg
| caption = Englander at the 2017 Texas Book Festival
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1970}}
| birth_place = [West Hempstead, New York](/source/West_Hempstead%2C_New_York), U.S.
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| education = [Binghamton University](/source/Binghamton_University) ([BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts))<br>[University of Iowa](/source/University_of_Iowa) ([MFA](/source/Master_of_Fine_Arts))
| genre = short story,  novel
| website = {{URL|nathanenglander.com}}
}}
'''Nathan Englander''' (born 1970) is an American [short story](/source/short_story) writer and novelist. His debut [short story collection](/source/short_story_collection), ''[For the Relief of Unbearable Urges](/source/For_the_Relief_of_Unbearable_Urges),'' was published by [Alfred A. Knopf](/source/Alfred_A._Knopf), in 1999. His second collection, ''[What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank](/source/What_We_Talk_About_When_We_Talk_About_Anne_Frank)'', won the 2012 [Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award](/source/Frank_O'Connor_International_Short_Story_Award) and was a finalist for the [Pulitzer Prize](/source/Pulitzer_Prize_for_Fiction).

==Biography==
Nathan Englander was born in [West Hempstead](/source/West_Hempstead%2C_New_York) on [Long Island](/source/Long_Island), New York, and grew up there as part of the [Orthodox Jewish](/source/Orthodox_Judaism) community.<ref>Gussow, Mel. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E6DB103DF936A35754C0A96F958260 "Captured in Stories, The World He Left; For Author's Debut, Tales of Orthodox Jews"], ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'', July 5, 1999. "Mr. Englander, who grew up in West Hempstead on Long Island, now lives in Jerusalem, and in that is one of the many paradoxes of his life."</ref> 
He attended the [Hebrew Academy of Nassau County](/source/Hebrew_Academy_of_Nassau_County) for high school and graduated from the [State University of New York at Binghamton](/source/Binghamton_University)  and the [Iowa Writers' Workshop](/source/Iowa_Writers'_Workshop) at the [University of Iowa](/source/University_of_Iowa). In the mid-1990s, he moved to [Israel](/source/Israel), where he lived for five years.<ref>[http://www.bupipedream.com/release/20390/binghamton-graduate-writes-with-dark-humor-jewish-wit/ Pipe Dream]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title="Kisufim" – The International Festival of Jewish Writers and Poets. |url=https://www.breuerpress.com/2013/01/20/kisufim-the-international-festival-of-jewish-writers-and-poets/ |access-date=2022-03-13 |website=Breuerpress International |language=hu}}</ref>

Englander lives in [Toronto](/source/Toronto), [Ontario](/source/Ontario), with his wife Rachel, and children Olivia and Sammy.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-we-the-north-on-finding-a-home-in-canada/|title = Opinion: We the north: On finding a home in Canada}}</ref> He formerly lived in [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn), New York, and [Madison, Wisconsin](/source/Madison%2C_Wisconsin). He taught fiction as a part of [CUNY](/source/CUNY) [Hunter College](/source/Hunter_College)'s Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing<ref>{{Cite web |title=Creative Writing MFA Visiting Writers |url=https://www.hunter.cuny.edu/creativewriting/being.shtml |access-date=2022-09-12 |website=www.hunter.cuny.edu}}</ref> and in the MFA program at [New York University](/source/New_York_University).<ref>{{Cite web |title=New York University in Paris |url=https://www.pw.org/mfa/new_york_university_in_paris |access-date=2022-09-12 |website=Poets & Writers |language=en}}</ref>

==Literary career==
Since the publication of ''[For the Relief of Unbearable Urges](/source/For_the_Relief_of_Unbearable_Urges)'', Englander has received  a [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship), the Bard Fiction Prize, and a fellowship at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.<ref>http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/scholars/pastfellows.html. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302190658/http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/scholars/pastfellows.html |date=2009-03-02 }}</ref> Four of his short stories have appeared in editions of ''[The Best American Short Stories](/source/The_Best_American_Short_Stories)'': "The Gilgul of Park Avenue" appeared in the 2000 edition, with guest editor [E.L. Doctorow](/source/E.L._Doctorow), "How We Avenged the Blums" appeared in the 2006 edition, guest edited by [Ann Patchett](/source/Ann_Patchett), "Free Fruit for Young Widows" appeared in the 2011 edition, guest edited by [Geraldine Brooks](/source/Geraldine_Brooks_(writer)), and "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" appeared in the 2012 edition, guest edited by [Tom Perrotta](/source/Tom_Perrotta). Another story in the collection, "The Twenty-Seventh Man," debuted as a play in November, 2012,<ref>{{Cite web |last=McGibbon |first=Andrew C. |title=The Public Theater Announces 2011-12 Season - The AndyGram |url=https://theandygram.com/Broadway-Press-Release-Retweet/2010-11-Theatre-Press-Releases/The-Public-Theater-Announces-2011-12-Season.html?print=1&tmpl=component |access-date=2022-03-13 |website=theandygram.com |language=en-gb}}</ref> the subject of a radio program featuring audio of a reading by actor [Michael Stuhlbarg](/source/Michael_Stuhlbarg).<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.blubrry.com/selectedshorts/1584859/the-twenty-seventh-man/ | publisher = Public Radio International | work = Selected Shorts | title = 'The 27th Man' | date = 2012-11-04 | accessdate = 2012-11-04}}</ref>

''The Ministry of Special Cases,'' Englander's follow-up to his debut collection, was released on April 24, 2007. The novel is set in 1976 in [Buenos Aires](/source/Buenos_Aires) during Argentina's "[Dirty War](/source/Dirty_War)" and has been described as "an impeccably paced, historically accurate novel which is alternatively side-splitting and frighteningly macabre."<ref>Nolan, Val. [http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2007/08/26/story26013.asp "Darkly comic tale of family in Argentina"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924101116/http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2007/08/26/story26013.asp |date=2008-09-24 }}, ''[The Sunday Business Post](/source/The_Sunday_Business_Post)'', August 26, 2007. Accessed August 16, 2008.</ref> Englander has said of his novel: "...&nbsp;I resisted calling it a political book, in that it wasn’t my intent—that is, I had no corrupting (as I’d see it) preconceived position that I was pushing. There’s a lot of politics in my novel, because it’s central to the world of that novel."<ref>Galchen, Rivka. [http://bombmagazine.org/article/3210/nathan-englander-rivka-galchen "Nathan Englander&nbsp;&amp; Rivka Galchen"]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. ''[BOMB Magazine](/source/BOMB_Magazine)'', September, 2007. Retrieved August&nbsp;28, 2017.</ref>

Englander's third book, ''[What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank](/source/What_We_Talk_About_When_We_Talk_About_Anne_Frank)'', a short story collection, was released on February 7, 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander: 9780307949608 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/217135/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-anne-frank-by-nathan-englander/ |access-date=2022-03-13 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}</ref> The title story was featured in the December 12, 2011 issue of ''[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)'',<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2011-12-05 |title=What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/12/12/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-anne-frank |access-date=2022-03-13 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}</ref> and the book won the 2012 [Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award](/source/Frank_O'Connor_International_Short_Story_Award) and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

In 2017, Englander was announced as juror for the 2017 [Scotiabank Giller Prize](/source/Scotiabank_Giller_Prize).<ref>"Introducing the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize Jury". ''[Scotiabank Giller Prize](/source/Scotiabank_Giller_Prize)'', http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/introducing-the-2017-scotiabank-giller-prize-jury/ January 16, 2017.</ref>

==Awards and critical acclaim==
* 2000 - [PEN/Malamud Award](/source/PEN%2FMalamud_Award)
* 2012 - [Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award](/source/Frank_O'Connor_International_Short_Story_Award)

==Published works==
* ''[For the Relief of Unbearable Urges](/source/For_the_Relief_of_Unbearable_Urges)'' New York Knopf 1999. {{ISBN|9780375404924}}, {{OCLC|245836139}}
* ''The Ministry of Special Cases'' New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. {{ISBN|9780375404931}}, {{OCLC|938286689}}
* ''[What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank](/source/What_We_Talk_About_When_We_Talk_About_Anne_Frank)'' New York : Knopf, 2012. {{ISBN|9780307958709}}, {{OCLC|782137235}}
* ''Dinner at the Center of the Earth'' New York, NY : Alfred A. Knopf, 2017. {{ISBN|9781524732738}}, {{OCLC|1002660851}}
* ''Kaddish.com'' New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2019. {{ISBN|9781524732752}}, {{OCLC|1084694484}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Nathan Englander}}
* [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/8116/nathan-englander Nathan Englander's page on Penguin Random House website]
* [http://www.bupipedream.com/release/20390/binghamton-graduate-writes-with-dark-humor-jewish-wit/ Profile of Nathan Englander] and his time at [Binghamton University](/source/Binghamton_University) in [Pipe Dream (newspaper)](/source/Pipe_Dream_(newspaper))
* [https://www.pw.org/content/relief_unbearable_pressure_profile_nathan_englander_0?article_page=1 For the Relief of Unbearable Pressure:  A Profile of Nathan Englander]
* [http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw070906nathan_englander Radio Interview on Bookworm]
* [http://nathanenglander.com/ Nathan Englander's website]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120609032232/http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/re-carving/ Review of What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank in The Oxonian Review]}}
Stories online:
* [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/08/how-we-avenged-the-blums/4113/ 'How We Avenged the Blums' in Atlantic Monthly]
* [https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/99mar/gilgul.htm 'The Gilgul of Park Avenue' in Atlantic Monthly]
* [http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/05/17/100517fi_fiction_englander?currentPage=all 'Free Fruit for Young Widows' in The New Yorker]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Englander, Nathan}}
Category:1970 births
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American short story writers
Category:American academics of English literature
Category:American expatriates in Israel
Category:American expatriate writers in Canada
Category:American male novelists
Category:American male short story writers
Category:Binghamton University alumni
Category:Hunter College faculty
Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
Category:Jewish American novelists
Category:Jewish American short story writers
Category:The New Yorker people
Category:Novelists from New York (state)
Category:PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners
Category:PEN/Malamud Award winners
Category:People from West Hempstead, New York

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nathan Englander](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Englander) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Englander?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
