Chuck Klosterman

{{Infobox writer

| name = Chuck Klosterman

| image = Chuck Klosterman in 2009.jpg

| caption = Klosterman in 2009

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1972|6|5|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Breckenridge, Minnesota, U.S.

| occupation = {{Hlist|Author|journalist}}

| subjects = {{Hlist|Popular culture|sports}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Melissa Maerz|2009}}

| children = 2

| education = University of North Dakota (BA)

}}

Charles John Klosterman ({{IPAc-en|'|k|l|oʊ|s|t|ər|m|ə|n}};{{Cite AV media|url = https://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/unorthodox/episode-305-chuck-klosterman-the-nineties|title = Old School: Ep 305|date = February 10, 2022|accessdate = February 22, 2022|work = Unorthodox|publisher = Tablet|time = 25:49}} born June 5, 1972) is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for Esquire and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for The New York Times Magazine. Klosterman is the author of twelve books, including two novels and the essay collection Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. He was awarded the ASCAP Deems Taylor award for music criticism in 2002.{{cite web |url=https://www.ascap.com/eventsawards/awards/deems-taylor/feature/years/2002 |title=35th Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Award Recipients |website=www.ascap.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614195033/https://www.ascap.com/eventsawards/awards/deems-taylor/feature/years/2002 |archive-date=14 June 2018 |url-status=dead}}

Early life

Klosterman was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, the youngest of seven children of Florence and William Klosterman.{{cite web |last1=Knudson |first1=Pamela |title=N.D. native, author Chuck Klosterman forges career — his way |url=http://www.jamestownsun.com/entertainment/books/4484215-nd-native-author-chuck-klosterman-forges-career-%E2%80%94-his-way |website=Jamestown Sun |access-date=23 August 2018 |date=10 August 2018 |archive-date=August 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811124908/http://www.jamestownsun.com/entertainment/books/4484215-nd-native-author-chuck-klosterman-forges-career-%25E2%2580%2594-his-way |url-status=dead }} He is of German and Polish descent.{{cite web|url=http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/tdushane/2011/11/chuck-klosterman-an-awesomely-long-interview/ |title=Chuck Klosterman – An Awesomely Long Interview | last=DuShane |first=Tony |website=The Nervous Breakdown |date=November 12, 2011 |access-date=2012-11-13}} He grew up on a farm in nearby Wyndmere, North Dakota,{{cite news|last=Klosterman|first=Chuck|title=Everyone Knows This Is Somewhere|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 27, 2003|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/27/nyregion/everyone-knows-this-is-somewhere.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=January 8, 2010}} and was raised Roman Catholic. He graduated from Wyndmere High School in 1990, and then from the University of North Dakota in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism with a minor in English literature.{{cite web |last1=Murphy |first1=Connor |title=More than 1,700 to graduate, bestselling author Chuck Klosterman to give UND Commencement address |url=https://blogs.und.edu/press-releases/2024/04/more-than-1700-to-graduate-bestselling-author-chuck-klosterman-to-be-given-honorary-degree-at-und-commencement/ |website=Press Releases |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=en |date=25 April 2024}}

Career

After college, Klosterman was a journalist in Fargo, North Dakota, and later a reporter and arts critic for the Akron Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, before moving to New York City in 2002.{{cite web|first=Chuck |last=Klosterman |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2002/10/15/rubber-city-meets-the-crossroad/|title=Rubber City Meets the Crossroad|website=www.villagevoice.com|date=October 15, 2002|access-date=January 26, 2020}} From 2002 to 2006, Klosterman was a senior writer and columnist for Spin. He has written for GQ, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.{{cite web|url=http://gawker.com/550882/chuck-klosterman|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611013619/http://gawker.com/550882/chuck-klosterman|url-status=dead|title=Chuck Klosterman|archive-date=June 11, 2015|website=Gawker|access-date=January 26, 2020}}

His magazine work has been anthologized in Da Capo Press's Best Music Writing, Best American Travel Writing, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading.

Though initially recognized for his rock writing, Klosterman has written extensively about sports and began contributing articles to ESPN's Page 2 on November 8, 2005.{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=klosterman/051108 |title=Just keep my sports the same |author=Klosterman, Chuck |date=November 8, 2005|publisher=ESPN Internet Ventures |access-date=November 3, 2009}}

In 2008, Klosterman spent the summer as the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the Leipzig University's Institute for American Studies in Germany.{{cite web|url=https://americanstudies.uni-leipzig.de/news/177|title=New Picador Professor Chuck Klosterman|website=americanstudies.uni-leipzig.de|publisher=Universität Leipzig: Institute for American Studies |access-date=January 26, 2020|date=2008}}

Klosterman was an original member of Grantland, a now-defunct sports and pop culture web site owned by ESPN and founded by Bill Simmons. Klosterman was a consulting editor.{{cite web | url=http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2011/04/28/writers_editors_join_espn/ | website=Grantland |title=All-Star Roster of Writers and Editors to Join New ESPN Web Site | access-date=April 29, 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430080618/http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2011/04/28/writers_editors_join_espn/ | archive-date=April 30, 2011 | df=mdy-all}} In 2020, he co-hosted a podcast titled "Music Exists" with Chris Ryan as part of The Ringer podcast network.

He also appeared as an animated version of himself in several episodes of the Adult Swim web feature Carl's Stone Cold Lock of the Century of the Week, to discuss the week's football games and to sometimes try to promote his latest book (Carl cuts him off each time). In one episode, Carl recites a list of facts and Klosterman asks "Is this, perhaps, from Wikipedia?"{{cite AV media |people=Klosterman, Chuck (guest) | date=1 September 2013 |title=Carl's Stone Cold Lock of the Century of the Week |series=Carl's Pissed | time=1:03 |url=https://thetvdb.com/series/carls-pissed/allseasons/official | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302000000/https://thetvdb.com/series/carls-pissed/allseasons/official |archive-date=2 March 2023 |access-date=10 July 2023}} [https://archive.org/details/carls-pissed-episode-09-roid-rage-12-17-07/2013%20Season%20Ep%201%20Patriots%20vs.%20Bills%20%20%20Carl's%20Lock_%20(360p).mp4 Alt URL]

In 2012, Klosterman appeared in the documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits about musical group LCD Soundsystem; Klosterman's extended interview with the group's frontman James Murphy "forms the...backbone of the film".{{Cite web | last=Buckwalter | first=Ian | date=17 July 2012 | title=At His Zenith, An Unlikely Rock Star Bows Out | website=NPR | publisher=National Public Radio | url=https://www.npr.org/2012/07/17/156725951/at-his-zenith-an-unlikely-rock-star-bows-out |access-date=10 July 2023}}

His eighth book, titled I Wear the Black Hat, was published in 2013. It focuses on the paradox of villainy within a heavily mediated culture.

In 2015, Klosterman appeared on episodes 6 and 7 of the first season of IFC show Documentary Now! as a music critic for the fictional band The Blue Jean Committee.

His best-selling ninth book, But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past, was published June 7, 2016. It visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear in the future to those who will perceive it as the distant past.Jones, Nate. [http://www.vulture.com/2016/01/klostermans-next-book-is-about-how-were-wrong.html# "Chuck Klosterman Is Writing a Book About the Possibility of Us Being Wrong About, Well, Everything"]. Vulture. January 20, 2016.

In 2021, Klosterman appeared on the podcast Storybound, backed by an original Storybound remix with Portico Quartet.{{cite web|url=https://lithub.com/announcing-season-4-of-the-storybound-podcast/ |title= Announcing Season 4 of the Storybound Podcast |website=Storybound| publisher=Literary Hub|date= June 4, 2021 |accessdate= June 10, 2021}}

His 12th book, The Nineties, debuted at No. 2 on The New York Times nonfiction bestseller list on February 27, 2022.[https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2022/02/27/ Best Sellers - Books - Feb. 27, 2022 - The New York Times]

Personal life

In 2009, Klosterman married journalist Melissa Maerz. They have two children.{{cite web|url=http://www.mndaily.com/2009/09/30/klosterman-and-maerz-two-hipsters-say-i-do|title=Klosterman and Maerz: two hipsters say "I do"|last=Dresser|first=Ashley|date=September 30, 2009|publisher=mndaily.com|access-date=September 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319145227/https://www.mndaily.com/2009/09/30/klosterman-and-maerz-two-hipsters-say-i-do|archive-date=March 19, 2015}}

Books

Klosterman is the author of 12 books and two sets of cards.

=Non-fiction=

Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural Nörth Daköta (2001), a humorous memoir/history on the phenomenon of glam metal
Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story (2005), a road narrative focused on the relationship between rock music, mortality, and romantic love
I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) (2013){{cite book|url=http://books.simonandschuster.com/I-Wear-the-Black-Hat/Chuck-Klosterman/9781439184493 |title=I Wear the Black Hat | Book by Chuck Klosterman – Simon & Schuster |year=2013 |publisher=Books.simonandschuster.com |isbn=9781439184509 |access-date=2012-11-13}}
But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past (2016){{cite news |last1=Holt |first1=Jim |title=The Good, the True, the Beautiful and Chuck Klosterman |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/books/review/chuck-klosterman-but-what-if-were-wrong.html |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702192223/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/books/review/chuck-klosterman-but-what-if-were-wrong.html |archive-date=July 2, 2016 |date=June 29, 2016 |url-status=live }}
The Nineties (2022){{cite web| url = https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/557048/the-nineties-by-chuck-klosterman/| title = The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman: 9780735217959 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books}}

=Essay collections=

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto (2003), a best-selling collection of original pop culture essays
Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas (2006), a collection of articles, previously published columns, and a semi-autobiographical novella
Eating the Dinosaur (2009), an original collection of essays on media, technology, celebrity, and perception
Chuck Klosterman X: A Highly Specific, Defiantly Incomplete History of the Early 21st Century (2017), a collection of previously published essays and features

=Fiction=

Downtown Owl: A Novel (2008), a novel describing life in the fictional town of Owl, North Dakota
The Visible Man: A Novel (2011), a novel about a man who uses a cloaking device to observe others
Raised in Captivity (2019), a collection of 34 essayistic short stories, described as "fictional nonfiction" {{Cite web|title=34 Ways To Beat The System In 'Raised In Captivity'|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/07/18/740907927/34-ways-to-beat-the-system-in-raised-in-captivity|access-date=2020-07-13|website=NPR.org|date=July 18, 2019 |language=en|last1=Sheehan |first1=Jason }}

=Card sets=

HYPERtheticals: 50 Questions for Insane Conversations (2010), a set of 50 cards featuring hypothetical questions{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307587923 |title=HYPERtheticals by Chuck Klosterman |publisher=Random House |date=June 15, 2010|access-date=June 3, 2011}}
SUPERtheticals: 50 Questions for Strange Conversations (2020), another set of 50 cards featuring hypothetical questions{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307587923 |title=SUPERtheticals by Chuck Klosterman |publisher=Random House |date=October 13, 2020|access-date=November 20, 2020}}