| Nick DiMartino | |
| Birth Date: | 11 November 1946 |
| Birth Place: | Long Beach, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Author, playwright, reviewer, bookseller |
| Alma Mater: | University of Washington |
| Genre: | Supernatural fiction, Fantasy, Young adult fiction, Ghost story, historical fiction |
Nick Joseph DiMartino (born November 11, 1946) is a Seattle-based author, playwright, book reviewer and bookseller. To date he has published 15 novels, 2 non-fiction books and has had over 20 plays in full production. Many of his books feature local characters and settings. His plays are often treatments of classic books.
DiMartino was born in Long Beach, California to Ernesto DiMartino (1922–2012),[1] a second-generation Seattle fruit-and-vegetable merchant and later realtor, and Mamie Lombard DiMartino (1924–2019). Little Nick was named for his grandfather Nicola, but these days the Italian form of the name is usually feminine, so his parents baptized him just Nick (not Nicola or Nicholas). When Nick was six months old the family moved back to Seattle to stay. He attended Maple Elementary School, Cleveland High School, and the University of Washington where he majored in English Literature. After graduating from U.W. in 1969, he attended one semester of graduate school on a full scholarship at Johns Hopkins University before returning to Seattle and going to work at University Book Store, where he became a book buyer. He has used this position to make sure classic books always remain on the shelves, despite the higher profit margins of Washington Huskies sports clothing.
From his first published work, a one-act play called The Polar Bear (which won Scholastic Magazine's First Prize when he was just 18), Nick has completed 55 books and authored over 24 plays.
His play Frankenstein has been performed by the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, First Stage Children's Theater in Milwaukee, Dallas Children's Theater, twice at Nashville Children's Theatre and twice at Louisville's Stage One,[2] where it was videotaped in 1997[3] by the BBC and released as a family theatre video by Globalstage to great reviews.[4] [5]
In 2001 DiMartino began a 'book-of-the-month' feature at the seven branches of University Book Store, creating signage and promotion for the best newly released international title. Since then his 'Picks' have been prominently featured every month for over fourteen years.
In 2003 the Nick's Pick promotion expanded into a discussion group at UBS for each featured book, which has met for over twelve years now. When The Kite Runner was chosen in 2003, his club members attended the first Seattle autograph party for its author Khaled Hosseini. Other authors who have visited Nick's Book Club include Marjane Satrapi, Rory Stewart, and Alison Bechdel.
Starting in June 2007 DiMartino has reviewed international fiction for Shelf-Awareness.com, the daily online newszine for booksellers and book-lovers. To date Shelf Awareness has published over 250 of his reviews.[6]
Between 2007 and 2009 Nick contributed 126 articles to the online Booklist Reader from Booklist Publications.[7]
In January 2009 DiMartino founded The Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club,[8] which meets weekly to discuss each month's featured current or classic novel (or memoir) relating to life as a gay person.