Walter Kirn | |
|---|---|
 Kirn on March 1, 2015 | |
| Born | Walter Norris Kirn (1962-08-03)August 3, 1962 (age 62) Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| Education | Princeton University (AB) Oxford University |
| Occupations |
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| Notable work | Up in the Air |
| Spouse(s) | Penelope Locke (divorced) Maggie McGuane (divorced) Amanda Fortini |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | walterkirn.com/ |
Walter Norris Kirn (born August 3, 1962)[1] is an Americannovelist,literary critic, andessayist. He is the author of eight books, most notablyUp in the Air, which was made into afilm of the same name starringGeorge Clooney.
Kirn graduated with an A.B. in English fromPrinceton University in 1983 after completing a 22-page-long senior thesis entitled "Entangling Breaths (Poems)."[2] Following that, he obtained a second undergraduate degree in English Literature atOxford University, where he was a Keasbey Memorial Foundation Scholar.[3]
Kirn has published a collection of short stories and several novels. These includeThumbsucker (1999), which was made into a 2005 film featuringKeanu Reeves andVince Vaughn. Kirn's 2001 novel,Up in the Air, has been characterized as a literarychronotope relating to the genre of road narratives.[4] It was made into a 2009film directed byJason Reitman. StarringGeorge Clooney andAnna Kendrick, it was a commercial success and went on to receive critical acclaim as well as numerous nominations and awards.[5]
In 2005, Kirn took over bloggerAndrew Sullivan's publication while Sullivan was on vacation. He also wroteThe Unbinding, an Internet-only novel that was published inSlate magazine.[6]
Kirn's 2013 memoir,Blood Will Out, is an account of his relationship with the convictedmurderer andimposterChristian Gerhartsreiter, who had initially approached Kirn using the alias "Clark Rockefeller".
He has also reviewed books forNew York Magazine and has written forThe New York Times Book Review,New York Times Sunday Magazine,The Atlantic andSpy, and is a contributing editor ofTime, where he has received popularity for his entertaining and sometimes humorous first-person essays, among other articles of interest. He also served as an American cultural correspondent for theBBC.
In 2023, Kirn andDavid Samuels launchedCounty Highway, a magazine about America in the form of a nineteenth-century newspaper.Donald Rosenfeld is the publisher.
Since 2022, Kirn has been co-hosting theAmerica This Week podcast withMatt Taibbi.
In addition to teaching nonfiction writing at theUniversity of Montana, Kirn was the 2008–09 Vare Nonfiction Writer in Residence at theUniversity of Chicago.[7]
Kirn appears on the weekly podcast,America This Week withMatt Taibbi. He is a weekly regular panelist onGutfeld! He had a cameo appearance inUp in the Air as a boardroom member.
Kirn was born inAkron, Ohio, but grew up inMarine on St. Croix, Minnesota. After high school, he attendedMacalester College for one year before transferring to Princeton University.[8] Kirn's family joinedthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was twelve, but Kirn is no longer affiliated with the church.[9] In 1995, Kirn married Maggie McGuane, the daughter of actressMargot Kidder and novelistThomas McGuane.[10] The couple had two children but have since divorced.[11] Kirn is now married to magazine writer Amanda Fortini. The two split their time betweenLivingston, Montana andLas Vegas, Nevada.
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