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Jess Walter

{{Short description|American novelist (born 1965)}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Jess Walter

| image = Jess Walter.JPG

| image_size = 220px

| caption = Walter in 2009

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1965|7|20}}

| birth_place = Spokane, Washington, U.S.

| occupation = Author

| website = {{url|https://www.jesswalter.com}}

}}

Jess Walter (born July 20, 1965{{cite web |url=http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Financial-Lives-of-the-Poets/Jess-Walter/e/9780061916045 |title=The Financial Lives of the Poets |website=Barnes & Noble |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310082638/http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Financial-Lives-of-the-Poets/Jess-Walter/e/9780061916045/ |archive-date=2011-03-10 }}) is an American author of seven novels, two collections of short stories, and a non-fiction book. He is the recipient of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2006.

Career

Walter has published seven novels, Over Tumbled Graves, Land of the Blind, Citizen Vince, The Zero, The Financial Lives of the Poets, Beautiful Ruins, and The Cold Millions. In 2013, he published his first collection of short stories, We Live in Water, which President Barack Obama named one of his favorite books in 2019.{{Cite web |title='It's really flattering': Obama picks Spokane's Jess Walter for favorite books of the year list {{!}} The Spokesman-Review |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/dec/28/its-really-flattering-obama-picks-spokanes-jess-wa/ |access-date=2022-06-24 |website=www.spokesman.com}} In 2022, he published his second collection of short stories, The Angel of Rome. His essays and short stories have also appeared in Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, McSweeny's, Esquire, Harper's, Byliner, Playboy, ESPN the Magazine, Details, and other publications.{{cite web |url=http://www.jesswalter.com/bio.htm/ |title=Biography |website=www.jesswalter.com |access-date=2013-10-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006021249/http://www.jesswalter.com/bio.htm |archive-date=2013-10-06}}{{third party inline |date=January 2022}} His books have been published in thirty-two countries and translated into thirty-two languages.{{Cite web |title=Jess Walter on The Cold Millions, and How He Shapes a Story {{!}} Authorlink |url=https://authorlink.com/interview/jess-walter-on-the-cold-millions-and-how-he-shapes-a-story-2021/ |access-date=2022-06-24 |language=en-US}}

Walter's novel Beautiful Ruins was a number one New York Times best seller.{{Cite news |last=Atkins |first=Lucy |date=2013-05-26 |title=Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter |newspaper=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/europe-travel/italy/beautiful-ruins-by-jess-walter-pwkcbjdq8cc |access-date=2022-06-24 }} It was also named Esquire's Book of the Year, NPR Fresh Air's Best Novel of 2012, a New York Times Notable Book, and a Washington Post Notable Book.{{cite web |url=http://www.jesswalter.com |title=Jess Walter |publisher=Jess Walter |date=2012-06-18 |accessdate=2022-01-01 |archive-date=2021-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211014212443/https://www.jesswalter.com/ |url-status=live }} Maureen Corrigan of NPR's Fresh Air called this novel a "literary miracle"{{Cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/06/18/155097608/beautiful-ruins-both-human-and-architectural/ |title='Beautiful Ruins,' Both Human and Architectural |first=Maureen |last=Corrigan |date=June 18, 2012 |work=NPR |access-date=April 3, 2018 |archive-date=May 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517185042/http://www.npr.org/2012/06/18/155097608/beautiful-ruins-both-human-and-architectural |url-status=live }} and Steve Almond of The Boston Globe described it as "a novel with pathos, piercing wit, and, most important, the generous soul of a literary classic".{{cite news |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2012/06/09/review-beautiful-ruins-jess-walter/KZPYshTqWtiTPhuJY8rC7L/story.html/ |title='Beautiful Ruins' by Jess Walter |first=Steve |last=Almond |date=June 10, 2012 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |access-date=June 21, 2017 |archive-date=January 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121221058/https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2012/06/09/review-beautiful-ruins-jess-walter/KZPYshTqWtiTPhuJY8rC7L/story.html |url-status=live }}

Walter's 2009 novel The Financial Lives of the Poets was named one of the best books of the year by Time, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Believer, NPR's Fresh Air, and several others.{{cite book |title=The Financial Lives of the Poets |isbn=978-0061916052 |last1=Walter |first1=Jess |date=7 September 2010 |publisher=HarperCollins }} Walter also writes screenplays, and has written the screenplay for a possible film adaptation of The Financial Lives of the Poets.

His 2006 novel The Zero was a finalist for the National Book Award. In a 2006 Washington Post book review, John McNally writes that with The Zero Walter has "written a new thriller not only with a conscience but also full of dead-on insights into our culture ... and the often surreal post-9/11 world."{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090701149_2.html/ |title=The Man Who Knew Too Little |first=John |last=McNally |date=September 10, 2006 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131028011218/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090701149_2.html |archive-date=2013-10-28}}

Citizen Vince, Walter's 2005 novel, earned him the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel in 2006.{{cite web |url=http://www.theedgars.com/ |title=The Edgar Awards |publisher=Theedgars.com |date=2021-04-29 |accessdate=2022-01-01 |archive-date=2021-11-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127064234/http://www.theedgars.com/ |url-status=live }}

Walter is also a career journalist, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. As a reporter he covered the Randy Weaver/Ruby Ridge case for the Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper and authored a book about the case, Every Knee Shall Bow (revised edition titled Ruby Ridge).Jess Walter, Every Knee Shall Bow, HarperCollins ReganBooks, 1995, {{ISBN|0-06-000794-X}}. He also was the co-author with Christopher Darden of the 1996 bestseller In Contempt.

Family

Walter lives with his wife, Anne, and their children, Brooklyn, Ava and Alec, in his childhood hometown of Spokane, Washington.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-23 |title=Fun facts about award-winning Spokane author Jess Walter |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/oct/21/fun-facts-about-jess-walter/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Spokesman.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2022-06-21 |title=Spokane author Jess Walter on writing short stories, his working-class roots and his hometown |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/spokane-author-jess-walter-on-writing-short-stories-his-working-class-roots-and-his-hometown/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=The Seattle Times |language=en-US}} He is an alumnus of East Valley High School (Spokane, Washington) and Eastern Washington University.

Bibliography

=Novels=

=Short story collections=

  • We Live in Water: Stories (2013)
  • The Angel of Rome: And Other Stories (2022)

=Non-fiction=

  • Every Knee Shall Bow (1995)
  • re-released as: {{cite book |title=Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family |year=2002 |orig-date=1995 |edition=Updated & Revised |publisher=Harper Perennial |location=New York |isbn=9-7800-6000-794-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/rubyridgetruthtr0000walt/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=380%2C000 |url-access=limited}}
  • In Contempt (co-authored with Christopher Darden) (1996)

Awards

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

External links

  • [http://www.jesswalter.com/ Official Jess Walter website]
  • [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/jess-walter/ Fantastic Fiction - Jess Walter]
  • The Bat Segundo Show (radio interviews): [http://www.edrants.com/segundo/jess-walter-bss-163/ 2007 (40 minutes)] and [http://www.edrants.com/segundo/jess-walter-ii-bss-465/ 2012 (50 minutes)]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walter, Jess}}

Category:1965 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American male novelists

Category:Edgar Award winners

Category:Writers from Spokane, Washington

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Eastern Washington University alumni

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:Novelists from Washington (state)