Ben H. Winters

Winters was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Maryland. In high school, he played in the punk band Corm,{{cite web|url=http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/07/interview-giveaway-ben-h-winters-author-of-the-last-policeman.html|title=Interview (& Giveaway): Ben H. Winters, author of The Last Policeman|website=My Bookish Ways|accessdate=22 September 2014|archive-date=24 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124003655/http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/07/interview-giveaway-ben-h-winters-author-of-the-last-policeman.html|url-status=usurped}} alongside John Davis, now of Title Tracks. In 1998, he graduated from Washington University in St. Louis where he was active in the comedy group Mama's Pot Roast.{{cite web|last1=Alexander|first1=Jennifer|title=Ben H. Winters Pens Highly Imaginative "Countdown City"|url=http://www.westendword.com/Articles-Books-c-2013-07-16-187697.114137-Ben-H-Winters-Pens-Highly-Imaginative-Countdown-City.html#axzz3E0VNDGRL|website=West End Word|date=17 July 2013 |accessdate=22 September 2014}}

Winters was first known as the author of the 2009 New York Times bestseller Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. In June 2010, Android Karenina was published by Quirk Books. A young adult novel, The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman, was published by HarperCollins in September 2010. Finkleman was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America in January 2011. In 2011, Winters published a second book in the Ms. Finkleman series, titled The Mystery of the Missing Everything, and Bedbugs, a horror novel for adults. Winters has also written numerous books in the Worst-Case Scenario Series.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

In 2012, Winters published The Last Policeman, the first in a trilogy of detective novels set in a pre-apocalyptic United States; that book won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in the category Best Paperback Original;{{Cite web|url=http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html|title=Edgar Winners & Nominees|website=www.theedgars.com|access-date=2016-07-05|df=mdy-all|archive-date=2012-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307172053/http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html|url-status=dead}} was an Amazon Best Book of 2012;{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Best-Books-Of-The-Year/b?ie=UTF8&node=5916596011|title=Amazon.com: Back to School: Books|website=www.amazon.com|access-date=2016-07-05|df=mdy-all}} and was nominated for the Macavity Award for Best Mystery by Mystery Readers International.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mysteryreaders.org/macavity.html|title=This page has moved|website=www.mysteryreaders.org|accessdate=Nov 19, 2019}} The second novel in the Last Policeman trilogy, Countdown City, was published in July 2013; it won the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award for Distinguished Science Fiction.{{cite web |url=http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/04/winner-2014-philip-k-dick-award/ |title=WINNER: 2014 Philip K. Dick Award |publisher=SF Signal |author=John DeNardo |date=April 19, 2014 |accessdate=April 21, 2014}} The third book in the Policeman series, World of Trouble, was published in July 2014. It was nominated for the Edgar Award in the category of Best Paperback Original and for the Anthony Award.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bouchercon.info/nominees.html |title=Bouchercon World Mystery Convention : Anthony Award Nominees and Winners |website=www.bouchercon.info |access-date=2016-07-05 |df=mdy-all |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207060829/http://www.bouchercon.info/nominees.html |archivedate=2012-02-07 }}

Winters's work for the theater includes the Off-Broadway musical Slut, the children's musicals The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, Uncle Pirate, and A (Tooth) Fairy Tale and the Neil Sedaka juke-box musical, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.

Winters's novel Underground Airlines was published by Mulholland Books in July 2016. It is an alternate history book, set in a present-day alternate universe in which the American Civil War never occurred, with human chattel slavery continuing to be practiced legally in four U.S. states as a result. In the book, the main character, a former slave and bounty hunter working for the U.S. government, attempts to infiltrate an abolitionist organization known as the "Underground Airlines" (a reference to the historical Underground Railroad).{{Cite web|url=http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/book-deals/article/63992-book-deals-week-of-september-15-2014.html|title=Book Deals: Week of September 15, 2014|access-date=2016-07-05|df=mdy-all}}{{Cite web|url=http://benhwinters.com/category/underground-airlines/|title=Underground Airlines – Ben H. Winters|website=benhwinters.com|access-date=2016-07-05|df=mdy-all}} The book was an Indie Next pick for July 2016 and a New York Times bestseller.{{cite web|title=July 2016 Indie Next List #1 Great Read|url=https://www.indiebound.org/articles/ccusick/july-2016-indie-next-list-1-great-read|website=Indie Next|accessdate=4 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104163728/https://www.indiebound.org/articles/ccusick/july-2016-indie-next-list-1-great-read|archive-date=4 January 2017|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Underground Airlines a NYT bestseller|url=http://benhwinters.com/underground-airlines-a-nyt-bestseller/|website=BenHWinters.com|accessdate=4 January 2017}} The book won the 2016 Sidewise Award for Alternate History.

His novel Golden State was published by Mulholland Books in January 2019. The novel imagines an alternate history version of Southern California in which objective reality is fetishized and protected above all things, and lying is the greatest crime imaginable. Winters has said the book was inspired by the rise of alternative facts and in particular by the argument about the crowd size at the 2017 presidential inauguration.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/02/10/692512716/lies-are-illegal-in-the-golden-state-of-ben-winters|title=Lies Are Illegal In The 'Golden State' Of Ben Winters|website=NPR.org|accessdate=Nov 19, 2019}} Golden State was an Indie Next pick for January 2019{{Cite web|url=https://www.bookweb.org/news/january-2019-indie-next-list-preview-109238|title=The January 2019 Indie Next List Preview|date=Dec 4, 2018|website=the American Booksellers Association|accessdate=Nov 19, 2019}} and a Book of the Month Club selection.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bookofthemonth.com/golden-state-416|title=Golden State by Ben H. Winters | Book of the Month|first=Liberty HardyBOTM|last=Judge|website=www.bookofthemonth.com|accessdate=Nov 19, 2019}} Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Michael Berry called the novel "smart, intricate and propulsive" and "proof that Winters deserves our continued attention as one of crime fiction’s most inventive practitioners."{{Cite web|url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/books/beyond-201984-a-review-of-golden-state-by-ben-h-winters|title=Beyond 1984: A review of 'Golden State,' by Ben H. Winters|accessdate=Nov 19, 2019}}

In 2021 Winters published The Quiet Boy. Reviewing The Quiet Boy in the New York Times, Sarah Lyall wrote "Winters is such a fine writer that by the time he asks you to suspend your disbelief, you’ll follow him anywhere."{{Cite news |last=Lyall |first=Sarah |date=2021-05-27 |title=Nail-biting, Nerve-shredding Novels That Will Keep You Up at Night |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/books/new-thrillers.html |access-date=2023-02-03 |issn=0362-4331}} His upcoming thriller Big Time, which centers two average women caught up in the world of corporate espionage, arrives March 2024. Critics have praised Big Time as a "fast-paced and thought-provoking speculative thriller with well-drawn and relatable characters"{{Cite web |last=H |first=Winters, Ben |title=Big Time |url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/big-time-1803405 |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=Library Journal}} and "jaw-dropping plot twists."{{Cite web |date= |title=Big Time by Ben H Winters |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780316305778 |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}

Winters has been active in television since 2016, developing pilots and staffing on shows such as Legion and the Apple limited series Manhunt. In 2022 it was announced that Winters was creating a show based on the Jeffery Deaver novel The Never Game,{{Cite web |last=Andreeva |first=Nellie |date=2022-07-21 |title=Justin Hartley Drama 'The Never Game' Lands CBS Pilot Order |url=https://deadline.com/2022/07/justin-hartley-the-never-game-drama-cbs-pilot-order-1235073549/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}} later retitled Tracker for CBS. The procedural, starring Justin Hartley of This is Us and directed by Ken Olin, was picked up to series and premiered after Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024.{{Cite web |title=Justin Hartley Keeps Cool While Cracking Mysteries in 'Tracker': 'Never Let Panic Take the Wheel' (Exclusive) |url=https://people.com/justin-hartley-stars-in-cbs-series-tracker-first-look-trailer-exclusive-8416370 |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=Peoplemag |language=en}}

Winters lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/books/ben-winters-underground-airlines.html|title=In His New Novel, Ben Winters Dares to Mix Slavery and Sci-Fi|last=Alter|first=Alexandra|date=2016-07-04|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-07-05|df=mdy-all}}

• Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (2009)
• Android Karenina (2010)
• The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman (2010)
• The Mystery of the Missing Everything (2011)
• Bedbugs (2011)
• The Last Policeman (2012)
• Countdown City (2013)
• World of Trouble (2014)
• Underground Airlines (2016)
• Golden State (2019)
• The Quiet Boy (2021)
• Big Time (2024)

• Q&A (Audible original) (2020)
• Inside Jobs: Tales From a Time of Quarantine (Audible original) (2020)
• [https://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Help-Audiobook/B0B1VTLTD3?ref_pageloadid=n5EZh0IGy33qMoKK&ref=a_author_Be_c19_lProduct_1_12&pf_rd_p=f3abc0ee-320d-4c19-8388-fcd3a8e6c3a4&pf_rd_r=R480MX1QZEJEP3ZD2M0Y&pageLoadId=ZVZ3WF6BIcHmZWEx&creativeId=73c32a9a-e504-4597 Self Help] (Audible original) (2022)
• [https://www.audible.com/pd/Stranger-Audiobook/B0C9R8VVVS Stranger] (Audible original) (2023)
• [https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Hitchhikers-Audiobook/B0DMFVBGB5 Hitchhikers] (Audible original) (2025)

• [https://www.amazon.com/Literally-Disturbed-Tales-Keep-Night/dp/0843171944/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443812252&sr=8-1&keywords=literally+disturbed Literally Disturbed: Tales to Keep You Up at Night] (2013)
• [https://www.amazon.com/Literally-Disturbed-More-Tales-Night/dp/0843173122/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1MR0XRVTB0CWRDAZSG34&dpID=51HDZHdbvfL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR108%2C160_ Literally Disturbed #2: More Tales to Keep You Up at Night] (2015)
• [https://www.amazon.com/Literally-Disturbed-More-Tales-Night/dp/0843173122/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1MR0XRVTB0CWRDAZSG34&dpID=51HDZHdbvfL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR108%2C160_ Romantically Disturbed: Love Poems to Rip Your Heart Out] (2015)

• Slut{{Cite web|url=http://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/news/aug05/9aug05slut.htm|title='Slut,' a new musical written by Ben H. Winters and Stephen Sislen, at the American Theatre of Actors on the 13 Sep - 13 Nov 2005|website=www.newyorktheatreguide.com|access-date=2016-07-05|df=mdy-all}} (Off Broadway, 2005)
• Breaking Up is Hard to Do{{cite web |url=http://www.theatricalrights.com/node/2891 |title=Breaking up is Hard to do | Theatrical Rights Worldwide |accessdate=2015-09-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925102132/http://www.theatricalrights.com/node/2891 |archivedate=2015-09-25 }} (premiere Capitol Rep, Albany, 2005; licensed by Theatrical Rights Worldwide)
• The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere{{Cite web|url=http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/7396/midnight-ride-of-paul-revere-the|title=Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, The {{!}} Samuel French|website=www.samuelfrench.com|access-date=2016-07-05|df=mdy-all}} (TheatreWorks USA, 2006); licensed by Samuel French
• A (Tooth) Fairy Tale{{Cite web|url=http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/5763/tooth-fairy-tale-a|title=(Tooth) Fairy Tale, A {{!}} Samuel French|website=www.samuelfrench.com|access-date=2016-07-05|df=mdy-all}} (premiered by Vital Theater, 2009); licensed by [http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/5763/tooth-fairy-tale-a Samuel French]
• Uncle Pirate{{Cite web|url=http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/477/uncle-pirate|title=Uncle Pirate {{!}} Samuel French|website=www.samuelfrench.com|access-date=2016-07-05|df=mdy-all}} (premiered by Vital Theater, 2010); licensed by [http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/477/uncle-pirate Samuel French]

• 2008 Dramatists Guild Fellowship
• 2010 Edgar Award Nomination (The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman)
• 2011 Bank Street Best Children's Book (The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman)
• 2012 Edgar Award Winner (The Last Policeman)
• 2012 Macavity Award Nominee (The Last Policeman)
• 2013 Philip K. Dick Award Winner (Countdown City)
• 2014 Edgar Award Nominee (World of Trouble)
• 2015 Anthony Award Nominee (World of Trouble)
• 2017 Chautauqua Prize finalist (Underground Airlines)
• 2017 International Thriller Award nominee (Best Novel) (Underground Airlines)
• 2019 Grand prix de L'Imaginaire (Foreign-Language Novel) (Underground Airlines)
• 2020 Audie Award Nominee (Inside Jobs)

{{Portal bar|Biography|Children and Young Adult Literature}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|http://www.benhwinters.com/}}
• [http://www.blogtalkradio.com/modernsignedbooks/2016/08/09/ben-h-winters-discusses-underground-airlines--modern-signed-books Modern Signed Books BlogTalkRadio Interview with Rodger Nichols about The Underground Airlines August 2016]

{{Philip K. Dick Award}}{{Authority control}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1976 births

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American male dramatists and playwrights

Category:American male novelists

Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:American people of Czech-Jewish descent

Category:American satirists

Category:American satirical novelists

Category:Edgar Award winners

Category:Sidewise Award winners

Category:Washington University in St. Louis alumni

Category:Novelists from Maryland

Category:21st-century American male writers