Daniel Torday
{{short description|American novelist}}
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| occupation = Novelist, professor
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| alma_mater = Kenyon College
Syracuse University
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| notableworks = "The Last Fight of Poxl West"
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Daniel Torday is an American novelist, short story writer and essayist.{{Cite web|url=http://www.danieltorday.com/|title=Bio|website=Daniel Torday|access-date=2017-12-19}} He serves as an Associate Professor and Director of Creative Writing at Bryn Mawr College.{{Cite web|url=https://www.brynmawr.edu/people/dan-torday|title=Dan Torday {{!}} Bryn Mawr College|website=www.brynmawr.edu|access-date=2017-12-19}}
Career
Torday graduated from Kenyon College in 2000 and continued his study under George Saunders in Syracuse University's graduate writing program.{{cite web |url=https://electricliterature.com/cutting-past-the-quick-an-interview-with-daniel-torday-author-of-the-last-flight-of-poxl-west-2db3e917f603 |title=Cutting Past the Quick, an interview with Daniel Torday, author of The Last Flight of Poxl West |last=Leichter |first=Hilary |date=28 April 2015 |website=Electric Literature |access-date=1 April 2018 |quote="In moments of retrospection after a book comes out, probably it can’t hurt to acknowledge one’s mentors. So the oddly proper-nouny answer to this question is: George Saunders. I left a good job at Esquire Magazine to head up to the Syracuse MFA program, where I hoped to sit at George’s foot."}} He later worked as a junior editor at Esquire{{Cite news|url=http://therumpus.net/2015/07/the-rumpus-interview-with-daniel-torday/|title=The Rumpus Interview with Daniel Torday |work=The Rumpus |access-date=1 April 2018}} and is currently the Director of Creative Writing at Bryn Mawr College and former editor of The Kenyon Review. His 2012 novella "The Sensualist" won the National Jewish Book Award for debut fiction.
Torday's first novel, The Last Flight of Poxl West, was published in hardcover by St. Martin's Press in 2015.{{Cite news|url=https://us.macmillan.com/thelastflightofpoxlwest/danieltorday/9781250081605/|title=The Last Flight of Poxl West {{!}} Daniel Torday {{!}} Macmillan|work=US Macmillan|access-date=2017-12-19}} The book was the winner of the 2015 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction,{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/the-last-flight-of-poxl-west-a-novel|title=The Last Flight of Poxl West: A Novel by Daniel Torday {{!}} Jewish Book Council|website=www.jewishbookcouncil.org|language=pt-br|access-date=2017-12-19}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners|title=Past Winners|website=Jewish Book Council|language=en|access-date=2020-01-19}} and was awarded the Sami Rohr Choice Prize{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/_blog/The_ProsenPeople/post/meet-sami-rohr-prize-finalist-daniel-torday|title=Meet 2017 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature Finalist Daniel Torday, Author of 'The Last Flight of Poxl West|website=www.jewishbookcouncil.org|date=May 2017 |language=pt-br|access-date=2017-12-19}} in 2017.
Torday's second full-length novel, Boomer1, was published by St. Martin's Press in hardcover in 2018.{{Cite book|title=Boomer1: A Novel|last=Torday|first=Daniel|date=2018-09-18|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=9781250191793}}
Critical reception
"The Last Fight of Poxl West" received a glowing review from Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/06/books/review-the-last-flight-of-poxl-west-by-daniel-torday.html|title=Review: 'The Last Flight of Poxl West' by Daniel Torday|last=Kakutani|first=Michiko|date=2015-03-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-12-19|issn=0362-4331}} and was featured on the cover of the New York Times Book Review{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/books/review/the-last-flight-of-poxl-west-by-daniel-torday.html|title='The Last Flight of Poxl West,' by Daniel Torday|last=Wayne|first=Teddy|date=2015-03-13|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-12-19|issn=0362-4331}} where Teddy Wayne referred to it as an "expertly crafted first novel." It was also named one of Amazon.com's Best Debuts of 2015{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Best-Books-of-2015/b?ie=UTF8&node=13108091011|title=Amazon.com: Best Books of 2015: Books|website=Amazon |access-date=2017-12-19}} and was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dublinliteraryaward.ie/nominees/the-last-flight-of-poxl-west/|title=The Last Flight of Poxl West {{!}} International DUBLIN Literary Award|website=www.dublinliteraryaward.ie|access-date=2017-12-19}} At the time of the book's publication, Torday was a guest on Fresh Air with Terry Gross{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/03/17/393468478/wwii-novel-memoir-explores-the-blurry-line-between-fact-and-fiction|title=WWII Novel-Memoir Explores The Blurry Line Between Fact And Fiction|work=NPR.org|access-date=2017-12-19}} to discuss the book. He said the novel was partially based on his grandfather having falsified government papers to hide his Jewish ancestry, in order to ensure his family's survival during World War II.
Nouvella Books published Torday's first book-length work, The Sensualist,{{Cite news|url=http://nouvellabooks.com/the-sensualist-by-daniel-torday/|title=Daniel Torday's Novella, The Sensualist » Nouvella|work=Nouvella|access-date=2017-12-19}} in 2012. It too won a National Jewish Book Award, this one for their debut fiction category. His short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/books/review/look-whos-back-with-a-resurrected-adolf-hitler.html|title='Look Who's Back,' With a Resurrected Adolf Hitler|last=Torday|first=Daniel|date=2015-05-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-12-19|issn=0362-4331}} NPR,{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/03/16/520253950/searching-for-meaning-after-a-jewish-cemetery-is-desecrated|title=Searching For Meaning After A Jewish Cemetery Is Desecrated|work=NPR.org|access-date=2017-12-19}} The Paris Review Daily,{{Cite web|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/02/19/a-writer-in-the-family/|title=A Writer in the Family|last=Torday|first=Daniel|date=2015-02-19|website=The Paris Review|access-date=2017-12-19}} Esquire Magazine, The Kenyon Review{{Cite web|url=https://www.kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/remembering-911-web-feature/selections/undress/|title=Undress {{!}} Kenyon Review Online|website=www.kenyonreview.org|access-date=2017-12-19}} and Tin House magazine, and have been honored in both the Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays series.
Works
- The Sensualist, Nouvella, 2011 {{ISBN|978-0983658542|}}
- The Last Flight of Poxl West, Picador, 2016, {{ISBN|978-1250081605}}
- Boomer1, St. Martin's Press, 2018, {{ISBN|978-1250191793}}
References
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Category:American male novelists
Category:Bryn Mawr College faculty
Category:American male essayists
Category:American male short story writers
Category:Jewish American essayists
Category:Jewish American novelists
Category:Jewish American short story writers
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American essayists
Category:21st-century American short story writers
Category:21st-century American male writers