Ed Park Explained

Ed Park
Birth Place:Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Education:Yale University (BA)
Columbia University (MFA)
Notable Works:Same Bed Different Dreams
Personal Days

Ed Park (born 1970 in Buffalo, New York) is an American journalist and novelist. He was the executive editor of Penguin Press.

Books

In May 2008, Park's debut novel Personal Days was published by Random House. It was a finalist for that year's Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize (then known as the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize), and the Asian American Literary Award. It was also named one of the ten best fiction books of the year by Time.

Park's second novel, Same Bed Different Dreams, was published by Random House[1] in November 2023. Publishers Weekly named it a Top 10 Book of the Year,[2] and The New York Times said, "It’s a challenging read and yet wonderfully suspenseful, like watching a circus performer juggle a dozen torches…A sprawling, stunning novel.”[3] It won the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction.[4] On May 6, 2024, Same Bed Different Dreams was announced as a 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Fiction.[5]

Career

Park was a founding editor of the magazine The Believer in 2003, and has been an editor at the Poetry Foundation, as well as the editor of the Village Voices Literary Supplement. Beginning in August 2006, soon after he lost his job at the Village Voice, he circulated a PDF-only newsletter called "The New-York Ghost".[6] From 2007 to 2011, he wrote the science-fiction column "Astral Weeks" for the Los Angeles Times.[7] His stories, articles, and humor have appeared in The New Yorker.[8] From 2018 to 2021, he wrote the graphic novel column for the New York Times Book Review.[9]

In 2011, he was hired by Amazon Publishing as a senior editor, where he was in charge of the company's literary side.[10] After hiring him, Amazon later gave him his own imprint, Little A. He earned Amazon a major literary prize while working there.[11] He has written introductions to several books, including Anthony Powell's Afternoon Men,[12] and co-edited three anthologies: Read Hard and Read Harder (both with Heidi Julavits), and Buffalo Noir (with Brigid Hughes).[13] In 2014, it was reported that he had been hired by Penguin Press as executive editor. He has taught in the graduate writing program at Columbia University.[14] He currently teaches at Princeton University.[15]

Personal life

Park received his English degree from Yale University and his M.F.A. from Columbia University. As of 2014, he lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side with his wife and two sons.[11]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park: 9780812998979 PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books . 2023-11-22 . PenguinRandomhouse.com . en-US.
  2. Web site: Best Books 2023: Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly . 2023-11-22 . PublishersWeekly.com.
  3. Web site: Cain . Hamilton . November 2, 2023 . "Welcome to Ed Park's Many-Layered World" . nytimes.com.
  4. Web site: Book Prizes » Festival of Books » L.A. Times . 2024-04-21 . Festival of Books . en-US.
  5. Web site: Finalist: Same Bed Different Dreams, by Ed Park (Random House) .
  6. Web site: The Wizard of Whimsy . The New York Times . 25 November 2007 . 20 May 2017 . Knafo, Saki.
  7. Web site: About Ed Park . 20 May 2017 . Ed Park Website.
  8. Ed Park . The New Yorker . 2017-12-14.
  9. Web site: 2018-03-27 . Introducing The Book Review’s New Graphic Novels and Comics Column . 2023-09-24 . The New York Times Company . en-US.
  10. Web site: Witt, Emily . 22 September 2011 . Believer Editor Ed Park Hired by Amazon Publishing . 20 May 2017 . New York Observer.
  11. Web site: Alter, Alexandra . 8 November 2014 . Prominent Editor's Exit Is Setback for Amazon Publishing Unit . 20 May 2017 . The New York Times.
  12. Park . Ed . 2014-10-15 . A Portrait of the Artist as a Droll Slacker . The New Yorker . 2017-12-14.
  13. News: The City of No Illusions - Los Angeles Review of Books . en-US . Los Angeles Review of Books . 2017-12-11.
  14. Book: Kirszner, Laurie . Portable Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing, 2016 MLA Update . Cengage Learning . 2017 . 9781337517775 . 97.
  15. Web site: Creative Writing Faculty & Visiting Writers . 2023-11-22 . Lewis Center for the Arts . en-US.