Ben Purkert

Last updated

Ben Purkert is an American poet, novelist, and creative writing instructor. He is the author of the 2018 poetry collection For the Love of Endings and the 2023 novel The Men Can't Be Saved. [1] [2] For the Love of Endings was selected as one of The Adroit Journal 's Best Poetry Books of the Year in 2018. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Purkert was born in New Jersey. [4] He was raised Jewish. [5] He holds degrees from Harvard University and New York University, where he was a New York Times Fellow. [6]

Career

After graduating college, Purkert worked as a copywriter for a branding agency. [7] He has worked as a creative writing instructor at Rutgers University and is currently teaching in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College. [8] [6] In 2018, he founded the Guernica interview series Back Draft, which focuses on the revision process of poets and authors. [9]

Four Way Books published Purkert's debut poetry collection, For the Love of Endings, in 2018. The Adroit Journal included For the Love of Endings on its Adroit's Best of: Poetry 2018 list. [3] The book also received favorable reviews from Publishers Weekly , Flypaper Lit, American Micro Reviews, and more. [10] [11] [12] About the book, The Kenyon Review wrote: "Purkert corners the reader right at the tight intersection of anxiety and desire, illuminating how often the two can be mistaken for each other." [13] A review from Colorado State University's Center for Literary Publishing called it "an exciting, weird, and weirdly exciting book." [14]

The Overlook Press, an imprint of Abrams Books, published Purkert's debut novel, The Men Can't Be Saved, in 2023. Kirkus Reviews called the book "Ironic, plangent, gritty, and, ultimately, spiritual." [15] A review in Esquire called it "a 21st-century Catcher in the Rye," and The Washington Post described Purkert as "a sharply funny observer of male foibles, 20-something angst and the modern workplace." [16] [17] Publishers Weekly called the book "great fun" and wrote: "the finely wrought prose and spot-on descriptions are undeniable." [18] Surrounding the publication of The Men Can't Be Saved, Purkert was interviewed by NPR, Esquire, Bomb, Electric Literature , and elsewhere. [19]

Works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonya Sones</span> American poet and author

Sonya Sones is an American poet and author. She has written seven young adult novels in verse and one novel in verse for adults. The American Library Association (ALA) has named her one of the most frequently challenged authors of the 21st century.

Ellen Wittlinger was an American author of young adults novels, including the Printz Honor book Hard Love.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dara Horn</span> American writer, novelist and professor (born 1977)

Dara Horn is an American novelist, essayist, and professor of literature. She has written five novels and in 2021, released a nonfiction essay collection titled People Love Dead Jews, which was a finalist for the 2021 Kirkus Prize in nonfiction. She won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award in 2002, the National Jewish Book Award in 2003, 2006, and 2021, and the Harold U. Ribalow Prize in 2007.

Ben Loory is an American short fiction writer. He is the author of the collections Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day and Tales of Falling and Flying, as well as a picture book for children, The Baseball Player and the Walrus. Loory’s stories have appeared in over one hundred journals and magazines including The New Yorker, BOMB Magazine,Fairy Tale Review, and TriQuarterly, and been heard on This American Life and Selected Shorts. He lives and teaches short story writing in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beth Ann Fennelly</span> American poet and writer

Beth Ann Fennelly is an American poet and prose writer and was the Poet Laureate of Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alissa Quart</span> American nonfiction writer, critic, journalist, editor, and poet

Alissa Quart is an American nonfiction writer, critic, journalist, editor, and poet. Her nonfiction books are Republic of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers and Rebels (2013), Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child (2007), Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers (2003), Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America (2018), and Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream (2023); her poetry books are Monetized (2015) and Thoughts and Prayers (2019).

<i>Citizen: An American Lyric</i> 2014 poetry book by Claudia Rankine

Citizen: An American Lyric is a 2014 book-length poem and a series of lyric essays by American poet Claudia Rankine. Citizen stretches the conventions of traditional lyric poetry by interweaving several forms of text and media into a collective portrait of racial relations in the United States. The book ranked as a New York Times Bestseller in 2015 and won several awards, including the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, the 2015 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry, and the 2015 Forward Prize for Poetry Best Collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanif Abdurraqib</span> American poet and essayist

Hanif Abdurraqib is an American poet, essayist, and cultural critic. His first essay collection, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was published in 2017. His 2021 essay collection A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance received the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. Abdurraqib was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosebud Ben-Oni</span> Latina-Jewish American poet and writer

Rosebud Ben-oni is a Latina-Jewish American poet and writer known for her "Poet Wrestling with" series. Her 2021 work If This Is the Age We End Discovery won the Alice James Award and was a Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in Poetry. Her poetry and lyrical essays have been commissioned by Paramount, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and Museum of Jewish Heritage in NYC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Therese Bohman</span> Swedish writer

Therese Bohman is a Swedish novelist and cultural journalist.

Anna-Marie McLemore is a Mexican-American author of young adult fiction magical realism, best known for their Stonewall Honor-winning novel When the Moon Was Ours, Wild Beauty, and The Weight of Feathers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurene Goo</span> American author of young adult fiction

Maurene Goo is a Korean-American author of young adult fiction and comics. Her books have been translated into twelve languages and two of her novels, I Believe in a Thing Called Love and Somewhere Only We Know, have been optioned to be made into feature films by Netflix.

Raven Leilani Baptiste is an American writer who publishes under the name Raven Leilani. Her debut novel Luster was released in 2020 to critical acclaim.

K-Ming Chang is an American novelist and poet. She is the author of the novel Bestiary (2020). Gods of Want won the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction. In 2021, Bestiary was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

<i>Blackout</i> (young adult novel) Young adult novel

Blackout is a young adult novel written by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon. The book contains six interlinked stories about Black teen love during a power outage in New York City. The book was released on June 22, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leah Johnson (writer)</span> American writer

Leah Johnson is an American writer. Her debut novel You Should See Me in a Crown (2020) received critical acclaim, including a Stonewall Book Award Honor. She is the author of Rise to the Sun (2021) and Ellie Engle Saves Herself! (2023).

<i>Sadie</i> (novel) 2018 novel by Courtney Summers

Sadie is a novel written by Courtney Summers. The book was released on September 4, 2018, and is told from two perspectives: some chapters offering Sadie's point of view and some chapters being styled as transcripts from a podcast called "The Girls" hosted by a man named West McCray. The release of the book was accompanied by the release of a mock true-crime podcast titled The Girls: Find Sadie which is available on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hernan Diaz (writer)</span> Author and academic

Hernan Diaz is an Argentine-American writer. His 2017 novel In the Distance was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He also received a Whiting Award. For his second novel Trust, he was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Lev A. C. Rosen, also known as L. C. Rosen, is an American author.

<i>The Rabbit Hutch</i> 2022 novel by Tess Gunty

The Rabbit Hutch is a 2022 debut novel by writer Tess Gunty and winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction. Gunty won the inaugural Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize for the novel.

References

  1. ↑ "For the Love of Endings". Four Way Books . Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  2. ↑ Purkert, Ben (August 2023). Men Can't Be Saved A Novel. Abrams. ISBN   978-1-64700-965-6.
  3. 1 2 "Adroit's Best of: Poetry 2018". December 31, 2018. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  4. ↑ "Ben Purkert". Narrative Magazine . August 26, 2013. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  5. ↑ Purkert, Ben (2023-07-31). "How Jewishness Comes and Goes". Jewish Book Council . Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  6. 1 2 "Ben Purkert Interviewed". BOMB . August 8, 2023. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  7. ↑ Ryan, Erika; Pfeiffer, Sacha; Kenin, Justine (August 4, 2023). "Ben Purkert tackles masculinity and ego within the advertising industry in new novel". NPR. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  8. ↑ "Ben Purkert". Jewish Currents . Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  9. ↑ "Ben Purkert". Catapult. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  10. ↑ "For the Love of Endings by Ben Purkert". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  11. ↑ "Book Review of For The Love Of Endings // Ben Purkert". flypaperlit.com. Retrieved 2023-08-13.[ dead link ]
  12. ↑ "For the Love of Endings by Ben Purkert". americanmicroreviews.com. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  13. ↑ Smith, Jess (July 6, 2018). "I Claw My Way Out: A Review of For the Love of Endings by Ben Purkert". The Kenyon Review . Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  14. ↑ Varley, Dan. "For the Love of Endings". Colorado Review . Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  15. ↑ "The Men Can't Be Saved". Kirkus Reviews . May 9, 2023.
  16. ↑ Morgan, Adam (August 3, 2023). "The Men Can't Be Saved—Or Can They?". Esquire . Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  17. ↑ Athitakis, Mark (July 23, 2023). "A bumbling man-child, it turns out, can still be a funny antihero". The Washington Post.
  18. ↑ "The Men Can't Be Saved by Ben Purkert". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  19. ↑ Alnes, Jacqueline (August 4, 2023). "If You Give the Job Your Heart and Soul, You Might Lose Both". Electric Literature . Retrieved 2023-08-13.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.