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Michael Cunningham | |
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| Born | (1952-11-06)November 6, 1952 (age 73) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
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| Education | Stanford University (BA) University of Iowa (MFA) |
| Notable work | The Hours |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for Fiction PEN/Faulkner Award |
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Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952)[1] is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novelThe Hours, which won thePulitzer Prize for Fiction[2] and thePEN/Faulkner Award[3] in 1999. Cunningham is Professor in the Practice ofCreative Writing atYale University.[4]
Cunningham was born inCincinnati, Ohio, and grew up inLa Cañada Flintridge, California.[5][6] He studiedEnglish literature atStanford University, where he earned his degree. Later, at theUniversity of Iowa, he received a Michener Fellowship and was awarded aMaster of Fine Arts degree from theIowa Writers' Workshop. While studying at Iowa, he had short stories published in theAtlantic Monthly andThe Paris Review. His short story "White Angel" was later used as a chapter in his novelA Home at the End of the World. It was included in "The Best American Short Stories, 1989", published by Houghton Mifflin.
In 1988, Cunningham received aNational Endowment for the Arts Fellowship[7] and in 1993 aGuggenheim Fellowship.[8] In 1995 he was awarded aWhiting Award.[9] Cunningham has taught at theFine Arts Work Center inProvincetown, Massachusetts, and in thecreative writingM.F.A. program atBrooklyn College.
The Hours established Cunningham as a major force in the American writing sphere, and his 2010 novel,By Nightfall, was also well received by U.S. critics.[10] Cunningham edited a book of poetry and prose byWalt Whitman,[11]Laws for Creations, and co-wrote, withSusan Minot, a screenplay adapted from Minot's novelEvening. He was a producer for the 2007 filmEvening, starringGlenn Close,Toni Collette, andMeryl Streep.
In November 2010, Cunningham judged one ofNPR's "Three Minute Fiction" contests.[12]
In April 2018, it was announced that Cunningham would serve as consulting producer for a revival of theTales of the City miniseries, which is based onArmistead Maupin'sbook series of the same name.[13] Theminiseries premiered on June 7, 2019.
Although Cunningham is gay, and married to psychoanalyst Ken Corbett,[14] he dislikes being referred to as agay writer, according to aPlanetOut article.[15] While he often writes about gay people, he does not "want the gay aspects of [his] books to be perceived as their single, primary characteristic."[16] Cunningham lives inBrooklyn,New York and works inManhattan.[17]
Collections:
Uncollected short stories:
ForThe Hours, Cunningham was awarded the:
In 1995, Cunningham received aWhiting Award.
In 2011, Cunningham won theFernanda Pivano Award for American Literature in Italy.[19]
In 2024, Cunningham won thePremio Gregor von Rezzori forDay.[20]
