Michael Dirda
{{Short description|American literary critic (born 1948)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Michael Dirda
| image = Michael Dirda.jpg
| caption = Dirda in 2009
| occupation = Book critic for the Washington Post
| education = Oberlin College (BA)
Cornell University (MA, PhD)
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1948}}
}}
Michael Dirda (born 1948) is an American book critic, working for the Washington Post. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993.
Career
Having studied at Oberlin College for his undergraduate degree in 1970, Dirda earned an M.A. in 1974 and PhD in 1977 from Cornell University in comparative literature. In 1978 Dirda started writing for the Washington Post; in 1993 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his criticism.{{cite book |title=Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1917–2000 |last=Fischer |first=Heinz-Dietrich |author2=Fischer, Erika J. |year=2002 |series=The Pulitzer Prize Archive |volume=16 |publisher=K. G. Saur |location=Munich |isbn=3-598-30186-3 |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-2o4Ywn4LJwC&pg=PA58 |access-date=21 January 2010}} Currently, he is a book columnist for the Post.
{{cite news
| title = XXX
| newspaper = Washington Post
| date = 25 March 2005
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/03/25/LI2005032502159.html
| access-date = 5 October 2010
| first=Michael
| last=Dirda}}
In 2002, Dirda was invested as a member of The Baker Street Irregulars.{{cite news|last=Dirda|first=Michael|title=If you love Sherlock Holmes, you'll love this book|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/if-you-love-sherlock-holmes-youll-love-this-book/2017/08/16/2bf21cca-811d-11e7-902a-2a9f2d808496_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 16, 2017|access-date=January 2, 2019}}
Works
Two collections of Dirda's literary journalism have been published:{{cite web |url=http://www.lorain.lib.oh.us/author_bibliography.aspx?PID=71&ID=3 |title=Local Author Bibliography: Michael Dirda |publisher=Lorain Public Library System |access-date=21 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718150254/http://www.lorain.lib.oh.us/author_bibliography.aspx?PID=71&ID=3 |archive-date=18 July 2011 }}
- Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000) {{ISBN|0-253-33824-7}}
- Bound to Please (New York: W. W. Norton, 2005) {{ISBN|0-393-05757-7}}
He has also written:
- An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003) {{ISBN|0-393-05756-9}} (autobiography)
- Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life (New York: Henry Holt, 2005) {{ISBN|0-8050-7877-0}}
- Classics for Pleasure (Orlando: Harcourt, 2007) {{ISBN|0-15-101251-2}}
- On Conan Doyle; or, The Whole Art of Storytelling (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011) {{ISBN|0-691-15135-0}}
- Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books (New York: Pegasus, 2015) {{ISBN|978-1-60598-844-3}}
On Conan Doyle was awarded the 2012 Edgar Award in the Best Critical/Biographical category.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/washington-posts-michael-dirda-wins-edgar-award/2012/04/26/gIQA4IDJkT_story.html |title=Washington Post's Michael Dirda Wins Edgar Award |date=26 April 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=14 May 2012}} (Reviewer Darrell Schweitzer lauds the book in The New York Review of Science Fiction.{{cite journal |author= Schweitzer, Darrell |date=January 2012 |title= On Conan Doyle; or, The Whole Art of Storytelling by Michael Dirda |journal= The New York Review of Science Fiction |volume= 24 |issue= 5 |publisher= Dragon Press |location= Pleasantville, NY |page= 7}})
Family
Dirda lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife, Marian Peck Dirda, a prints and drawings conservator at the National Gallery of Art. They have three sons: Christopher (b. 1984), Michael (b. 1987), and Nathaniel (b. 1990).{{cite web |url=http://www.ohioana-authors.org/dirda/highlights.php |title=WOSU Presents Ohioana Authors: Michael Dirda |publisher=Ohioana Authors |access-date= 12 January 2012}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Michael Dirda}}
- {{Official|http://www.michaeldirda.com/}}
- [http://theamericanscholar.org/the-complete-browsings/ Michael Dirda "Browsings" blog] at American Scholar
- [https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/michael-dirda/ Michael Dirda columns] at The Washington Post
- [http://www.barnesandnoble.com/review/author/michael_dirda Michael Dirda essays and reviews] at BarnesandNobleReview.com
- [http://www.nybooks.com/authors/12734 Michael Dirda archive] at The New York Review of Books
- {{C-SPAN|87757}}
- [http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/12/28/book-shopping-with-the-best-read-man-in-america/ "Book Shopping with the Best-Read Man in America"], The Paris Review, November 7, 2012
{{PulitzerPrize Criticism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dirda, Michael}}
Category:Cornell University alumni
Category:Oberlin College alumni
Category:American literary critics