Steve Almond

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Steve Almond bigraphy, stories - American writer

Steve Almond : biography

1967 –

Steve Almond (born 27 October 1966Steve Almond, (2007), pp. 107–7.) is an American short story writer and essayist. He is the author of ten books, three of which he published himself.http://therumpus.net/2011/09/the-decade-of-magical-thinking/

Life

Almond was raised in Palo Alto, California, and graduated from Henry M. Gunn High School. He received his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University. He spent seven years as a newspaper reporter, mostly in El Paso and at the Miami New Times. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts with his wife and two children.

Works

Short Stories

  • My Life in Heavy Metal, Atlantic/Grove; Random House UK; Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch Germany, Fokus Komunikacije Croatia, 2002
  • The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories, Algonquin Books, 2005
  • God Bless America: Stories, Lookout Press, 2011

Nonfiction

  • Candyfreak : A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, Algonquin Books, 2004.
  • (Not That You Asked) Rants, Exploits and Obsessions, Random House, September 11, 2007.
  • Letters from People Who Hate Me, DIY or Die Press, self-published with Espresso Book Machine, 2010.
  • Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life, Random House, 2010.
  • , self-published.
  • , DIY or Die Press.

Coauthor

  • Which Brings Me to You: A Novel in Confessions (with Julianna Baggott), Algonquin Books, 2006

Political Activities

Almond served as adjunct professor in creative writing at Boston College for five years until publishing an open letter of resignation in the The Boston Globe on May 12, 2006, in which he explained that his resignation was intended to protest the selection of Condoleezza Rice as the college’s 2006 commencement guest speaker. He later appeared on the Hannity & Colmes show on Fox News to discuss his decision. Almond is a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine’s Riff section, and to the literary website The Rumpus, where he writes frequently about the intersection of morality and politics. His column "The Week in Greed" is an effort to examine the influence of avarice in our political theater.http://therumpus.net/2012/05/the-week-in-greed-6-to-behave-like-the-fallen-world

Stories Online

Literary work

Almond’s second book, Candyfreak (2005) was a New York Times bestseller and won the American Library Association Alex Award and was named the Booksense Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year (2005). His books have been published in half a dozen foreign countries and translated into German, Dutch, Spanish, and Croatian. He has published more than 150 stories in magazines such as Tin House, Playboy, Zoetrope, and Ploughshares. His story "Donkey Greedy, Donkey Gets Punched" was selected for the Best American Short Stories 2010 and has been optioned for film by Spilt Milk Entertainment.http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/10/15/2010_was_a_fine_year_for_the_best_american_short_stories/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/10/10-10-10-the-10-best-best-of-books-of-2010.html Two of his stories were published in The Pushcart Prize. His essays and journalism have appeared in venues such as The New York Times Magazine, GQ, The Wall Street Journal, Poets & Writers, and Real Simple. His stories and essays have appeared in dozens of anthologies. Almond also reviews books for The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Los Angeles Times. He regularly teaches at Grub Street in Boston, and at the Sanibel Writer’s Conference, and the Tin House Writer’s Conference, among others.

Radio & Podcast

Almond is a regular correspondent on NPR’s Here & Now and on WGBH, both based in Boston. On October 27, 2011, Almond appeared as a guest on the podcast WTF with Marc Maron.http://wtfpod.libsyn.com/episode-222-steve-almond Almond also hosted a live interview podcast series with Hallelujah the Hills band leader Ryan Walsh entitled "This Has Been A Disaster – Thanks For Having Us."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBWNKE_fRx4

Self-Publishing

After a decade of working with traditional publishers, Almond has self-published three books in recent years and become an outspoken advocate of self-publishing, which he has written about extensively in the Los Angeles Times,http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/24/entertainment/la-caw-off-the-shelf24-2010jan24 Poets & Writers, and The Rumpus.http://therumpus.net/2010/02/presto-book-o-why-i-went-ahead-and-self-published

Steve was a contributing writer to Alarm Clock Theatre Company’s Elliot Norton Award winning play PS Page Me Later based on selections from Found Magazine.