Peter Cameron (novelist)

{{infobox writer

|name = Peter Cameron

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|11|29}}

|birth_place = Pompton Plains, New Jersey, U.S.

|occupation = {{flatlist|

Novelist
Short story writer

}}

|nationality = American

|alma_mater = Hamilton College

}}

Peter Cameron (born November 29, 1959) is an American novelist and short-story writer.{{cite web |date=November 11, 2007 |title=If You Really Want to Hear About It |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/books/review/Lipsky-t.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=October 10, 2022}} Several of his works was adapted into films.

Life and career

Cameron was born and raised in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock Township, New Jersey.Kiely, Eugene. [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112412245/peter-cameron-of-pompton-plains/ "Peter Cameron: telling strange tales of suburbia"], The Record, August 8, 1986. Accessed November 2, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "A quiet, reserved young man with an infectious smile, Cameron was born and raised in Pompton Plains". He graduated in English literature in 1982 from Hamilton College. Cameron lived in Pompton Plains, London, and, later, New York City.{{cite web |date=March 7, 2017 |title= PETER CAMERON |url=https://iicnewyork.esteri.it/iic_newyork/en/gli_eventi/calendario/peter-cameron.html |work=Istituto Italiano di Cultura, New York |access-date=October 10, 2022}}

In 1983, he published his first short story (Memorial Day) in The New Yorker; he then continued to contribute to the magazine in the following years.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/peter-cameron |title=Peter Cameron Latest Articles |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=October 7, 2022}} His first book was a collection of short stories entitled One Way or Another, published by Harper & Row in 1986. His debut novel Leap Year was published by Harper & Row in 1990. His second novel, The Weekend,{{cite news |last=Dorris |first=Michael |date=July 28, 1994 |title=A Gripping Tale Suffused With Repressed Emotion, Loneliness |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-28-ls-20714-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=October 8, 2022}} was edited in 1994 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and adapted as the Brian Skeet film of the same name released in November 2000.{{cite news |last=Gustavson |first=Eric |date=November 22, 2000 |title=FILM REVIEW; A Heartbreaker's Posthumous Power |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/22/movies/film-review-a-heartbreaker-s-posthumous-power.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=October 10, 2022}} In 1997, Farrar, Straus and Giroux published Cameron's next novel, Andorra.{{cite news |last=Livesey |first=Margot |date=December 29, 1992 |title=The Past Is Another Country |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/29/books/the-past-is-another-country.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=October 8, 2022}} They followed up with The City of Your Final Destination in 2002,{{cite web |date= |title=CITY OF YOUR FINAL DESTINATION |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-28197-7 |access-date=October 10, 2022 |work=Publishers Weekly}} which in 2009 was adapted into a film of the same name{{cite web |date=April 23, 2010 |title=Movie Review: 'The City of Your Final Destination' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-apr-23-la-et-city-20100423-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=October 10, 2022}} directed by James Ivory. In October 2007, Cameron's young adult novel Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You was published{{cite web |date=October 9, 2007 |title=SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/peter-cameron/someday-this-pain-will-be-useful-to-you/ |work=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=October 10, 2022}} and in October 2012 it was adapted into a film of the same name.{{cite web |date=October 4, 2012 |title=When Life Seems Like One Long Rainstorm |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/movies/someday-this-pain-will-be-useful-to-you.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=October 10, 2022}} In March 2012, he published Coral Glynn.{{cite web |date=March 6, 2012 |title= 'Coral Glynn': An Ambiguous Affair To Remember |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/03/06/147573549/coral-glynn-an-ambiguous-affair-to-remember |work=NPR |access-date=October 10, 2022}} His last novel, What Happens at Night, was published by Catapult in August 2020.{{cite news |last=Self |first=John |date=September 4, 2021 |title=What Happens at Night by Peter Cameron review — checking in at the hotel at the edge of the world |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/what-happens-at-night-by-peter-cameron-review-w93txfl7z |work=The Times |access-date=October 11, 2022}}

In addition to his work as a writer, he has taught at Columbia, Yale and Sarah Lawrence College. Between 1990 and 1998, he worked for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.{{cite web |date=November 5, 2012 |title= Novelist Peter Cameron '82, H'12 to Read From His Work |url=https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/novelist-peter-cameron-82-to-read-from-his-work |website=Hamilton |access-date=November 14, 2022}} In 2010, he founded Wallflower Press, whose name had to change in January 2014 to Shrinking Violet Press due to a rights conflict with Columbia University.{{cite news |last=Schwarzbaum |first=Lisa |date=December 3, 2021 |title=This Season's Pop-Culture Memoirs, From Will Smith to Elvira |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/03/books/review/celebrity-memoirs.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 14, 2022}}{{cite web |date= |title=About Shrinking Violet Press |url=http://shrinkingvioletpress.com/ |work=Shrinking Violet Press (archived)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122020016/http://shrinkingvioletpress.com/ |access-date=April 12, 2024|archive-date=2022-01-22 }}

Influences

Cameron was influenced by authors such as Rose Macaulay, Barbara Pym and Margaret Drabble,{{in lang|es}} {{cite news |last=Gómez Urzaiz |first=Begoña |date=March 11, 2019 |title=Peter Cameron: el escritor que cuenta historias de la gente acomodada |url=https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/03/04/icon/1551722516_725286.html |work=El País |access-date=October 11, 2022}} borrowing their aptitude for probing individual lives.