{{short description|American writer|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = Tom Drury | image = Tom Drury Opens 2017 English Literature Series (37013864862).jpg | imagesize = 300px | caption = Tom Drury opens the 2017 U.S. Embassy Literature Series at English Theatre Berlin. | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1956}} | birth_place = Iowa, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = | period = | genre = Literary fiction | subject = | movement = | notableworks = ''The End of Vandalism'' | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = Guggenheim Fellowship, Berlin Prize | signature = | education = University of Iowa (BA)<br>Brown University (MFA) | website = {{URL|https://www.tomdrury.net}} }}
'''Tom Drury''' (born 1956) is an American novelist and the author of ''The End of Vandalism''. He was included in the 1996 ''Granta'' issue of "The Best of Young American Novelists"<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://granta.com/issues/granta-54-best-of-young-american-novelists/ | title=Best of Young American Novelists | journal=Granta Magazine |publisher=Granta Publications | date=Summer 1996 | issue=54}}</ref> and has received the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Berlin Prize, and the MacDowell Fellowship. His short stories have been serialized in ''The New Yorker''<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tom Drury Latest Articles |url=https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/tom-drury |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref> and his essays have appeared in ''The New York Times Magazine'', ''Harper's Magazine'', ''North American Review'', and ''Mississippi Review''.
His fiction, set in the American midwest, has been described by ''The Guardian'' as having "a kind of dislocation; a 1950s or 60s sensibility dropped into a 90s social landscape."<ref>{{cite news |last1=McGregor, Jon |first1=and Yiyun Li |title=In praise of Tom Drury's small-town America |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/06/tom-drury-small-town-america-the-end-of-vandalism-hunts-in-dreams |website=The Guardian |date=6 November 2015 |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref> In 2015, ''The Guardian'' called him "an overlooked giant of American comic fiction."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lawson |first1=Mark |title=Pacific by Tom Drury review – an overlooked giant of American comic fiction |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/28/pacific-tom-drury-review-novel |website=The Guardian |date=28 November 2015 |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref> ''The Independent'' compared him to Jonathan Franzen, Dave Eggers and David Foster Wallace, and called him "the greatest writer you've never heard of . . . a cult figure, the new Richard Yates", writing: "His anonymity is a literary tragedy."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kidd |first1=James |title=Why does Tom Drury remain the greatest writer you've never heard of?|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/why-does-tom-drury-remain-the-greatest-writer-you-ve-never-heard-of-a95961.html |website=The Independent |date=17 April 2015 |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref>
He has taught writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Yale University, Wesleyan University, Florida State University, and La Salle University.
== Background and education ==
Drury was born in Iowa, in 1956, and grew up in Swaledale. He received his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa in 1980<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20000522/25161-pw-tom-drury-american-strains-of-humor-.html |title=PW: Tom Drury: American Strains of Humor |work=Publishers Weekly |date=2000-05-22 |access-date=2010-12-19 |archive-date=2012-09-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928072953/http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20000522/25161-pw-tom-drury-american-strains-of-humor-.html}}</ref> and his MFA in creative writing at Brown University in 1987, where he studied with Robert Coover.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kidd |first1=James |title=Why does Tom Drury remain the greatest writer you've never heard of?|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/why-does-tom-drury-remain-the-greatest-writer-you-ve-never-heard-of-a95961.html |website=The Independent |date=17 April 2015 |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref>
== Career == === Journalism === Drury worked at the ''Danbury News-Times'', the ''Litchfield County Times'', and ''The Providence Journal''. He was an editor at the ''Tampa Bay Times''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.english.ufl.edu/events/events2002-03/crw/festival.html |title=Florida Writers' Festival, Spring 2003 |publisher=English.ufl.edu |date= |access-date=2010-12-19}}</ref>
=== Literary career ===
Excerpts of Drury's first novel, ''The End of Vandalism'', appeared in ''The New Yorker'' before it was published in 1994 by Houghton Mifflin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gustavus.edu/news/2425 |title=Author Tom Drury to Visit Gustavus Adolphus College - Posted on September 20th, 2006 by News Office |publisher=Gustavus Adolphus College|date=2006-09-20 |access-date=2010-12-19}}</ref> The book was an ALA Notable Book in 1995.
His second novel ''The Black Brook'' (1998) was described by ''Kirkus Reviews'' as "edgy, captivating" and "an irresistibly droll portrayal of an All-American liar, loser, and innocent."<ref>{{cite web |title=THE BLACK BROOK |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tom-drury/the-black-brook/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref> On his third novel ''Hunts in Dreams'' (2000), ''Salon.com'' wrote: "Drury is in love with the quotidian in a way that's specific to a few writers, painters and filmmakers. You can feel the pleasure he takes in precisely describing unremarkable events and objects -- cutting lumber ("Sawdust flew in furry arcs that coated their arms and necks"), a wooden coat hanger ("The arms were curved and smooth, and the bottom rail was chamfered in with Phillips-head screws")."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Seligman |first1=Craig |title="Hunts in Dreams" by Tom Drury |url=https://www.salon.com/2000/05/03/drury/ |website=Salon |date=3 May 2000 |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref>
His fourth novel ''The Driftless Area'' (2006) was adapted into a film starring Aubrey Plaza, Frank Langella, Anton Yelchin, Zooey Deschanel, John Hawkes, Ciaran Hinds, and Alia Shawkat.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ford |first1=Rebecca |title=Cannes: Frank Langella Joins 'The Driftless Area' |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cannes-frank-langella-joins-driftless-702488/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=8 May 2014 |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref>
Drury's fifth novel ''Pacific'' (2013) features characters from ''The End of Vandalism'' and ''Hunts in Dreams'' and is also set in the fictional Grouse County. The three books have been called a series. In a review, NPR called it a "novel you read to linger in the moment", adding: "But to call Pacific a sequel implies that you need to read the first two installments to fully invest in this slight, beguiling third. You don't. Plot takes a back seat to sharp observations and deadpan wit in Drury's work, and Pacific can easily stand alone."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Reese |first1=Jennifer |title=West Meets Midwest In Tom Drury's Quirky 'Pacific' |url=https://www.npr.org/2013/05/15/182847126/west-meets-midwest-in-tom-drurys-quirky-pacific |publisher=NPR |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref>
About setting his novels in the midwest, he told ''The New York Times'' in 2013: <blockquote>I go back to a very specific aspect of the Midwest — small towns surrounded by farmland. They make a good stage for what I like to write about, i.e., roads and houses, bridges and rivers and weather and woods, and people to whom strange or interesting things happen, causing problems they must overcome. Once I understood I was free to use the setting as a stage — to bring in elements from Vermont, say, or Key West, or anywhere — and that my version of the Midwest would not be obliged to represent the actual Midwest, then it seemed like the place offered all the freedom I needed, with the added benefit of being well remembered.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=John |title=Back to Grouse County: Tom Drury Talks About 'Pacific' |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/back-to-grouse-county-tom-drury-talks-about-pacific/ |website=The New York Times |date=13 June 2013 |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref></blockquote>
Drury's work has gained a following among fellow writers. The novelist Daniel Handler claimed ''The Black Brook'' as the book he reread the most.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Handler |first1=Daniel |title=Daniel Handler: Maybe I'll Start a Dive Bar Proust Club |url=https://lithub.com/daniel-handler-maybe-ill-start-a-dive-bar-proust-club/ |website=Literary Hub |date=29 August 2017 |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref> In a piece for ''The Guardian'', writers Yiyun Li and Jon McGregor wrote: <blockquote>Drury’s rare achievement is to populate a novel with a group of life-sized nobodies. How does he do this? By abandoning both tragedy and comedy, in the recognition that life’s damages are often done and felt in the least dramatic ways, and absurdity results from people’s efforts to be honest or serious.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McGregor, Jon |first1=and Yiyun Li |title=In praise of Tom Drury's small-town America |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/06/tom-drury-small-town-america-the-end-of-vandalism-hunts-in-dreams |website=The Guardian |date=6 November 2015 |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref></blockquote>
== Awards and honors ==
* 1996: Granta's Best Young American Novelists * Best of BBC Radio's Recent Short Fiction, “Heroin Man” * John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow * ALA Notable Books, ''The End of Vandalism'' * GQ's Best Books of Last 45 Years, ''The End of Vandalism'' * New York Magazine Best Books, ''The End of Vandalism'' * Publishers Weekly Best Books, ''The End of Vandalism'' * Borders Original Voices, ''The Black Brook'' * New York Times Notable Books, ''Hunts in Dreams'' * New York Times Editor's Choice, ''The Driftless Area'' * Chicago Tribune Best Books, ''The Driftless Area'' * San Francisco Chronicle Best Books, ''The Driftless Area'' * MacDowell Fellowship * National Book Awards Longlist, ''Pacific'' * New York Times Editors' Choice, ''Pacific'' * San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Books, ''Pacific'' * Berlin Prize Fellowship<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tom Drury |url=https://groveatlantic.com/author/tom-drury/ |access-date=2022-03-24 |website=Grove Atlantic |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.tomdrury.net/about |access-date=2022-03-24 |website=tomdrury |language=en}}</ref>
==Bibliography== *''In Our state'' (1989) *''The End of Vandalism'' (1994) *''The Black Brook'' (1998) *''Hunts in Dreams'' (2000) *''The Driftless Area'' (2006) *''Pacific'' (2013)
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Drury, Tom}} Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American novelists Category:Novelists from Iowa Category:University of Iowa alumni Category:Brown University alumni Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Category:American male journalists Category:21st-century American novelists Category:American male novelists Category:American male short story writers Category:20th-century American short story writers Category:21st-century American short story writers Category:20th-century American male writers Category:21st-century American male writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers