Isaac Oliver (writer)

Last updated

Isaac Oliver
OccupationPlaywright, author, performer
NationalityAmerican
EducationBachelors
Alma materSarah Lawrence College
Carver Center for Arts and Technology
Fordham University
GenreComedy, Collection of stories
SubjectLife
Notable worksIntimacy Idiot
Notable awardsNew York Innovative Theatre
Website
www.IsaacOliver.com

Isaac Oliver (born in Baltimore, Maryland) is an author, playwright and on-stage comic known for his debut humor collection. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Oliver studied playwriting at Sarah Lawrence College and graduated from the Carver Center for Arts and Technology, [1] [2] which he later called "a magical place, a haven for weird, expressive kids who like to sob in stairwells." [3] He was a 2013 MacDowell Colony fellow. [4]

Career

After college, Oliver moved to Manhattan, worked at a theatre box office and started a blog about his daily life, ultimately performing material from the blog for his friends. He then performed live at midtown theatre Ars Nova's variety-show gala "Showgasm." [1] New York magazine called Oliver "a monstrous new talent." [5] He has written for HBO's "High Maintenance", [6] Netflix's "GLOW," Amazon's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," and the upcoming "Etoile." He has also been a frequent contributor to The New York Times . [7]

After the release of Oliver's book Intimacy Idiot, writer Sarah Larson wrote in The New Yorker that actor Jonathan Groff, to practice each day for the play "Hamilton," read a page from Intimacy Idiot in a King George accent. [1]

In 2017, Oliver began performing in residence at Joe's Pub in The Public Theater, in a show titled "Isaac Oliver Sits Down" and directed by Jason Eagan. [1]

In December 2017, he premiered a holiday special, "Isaac Oliver's Lonely Christmas," on the West Coast at the Diversionary Theatre in San Diego. [8]

Book

Oliver's book, Intimacy Idiot, released by Scribner in June 2015, is a collection of essays about dating, living, working, and being single in New York City, about which Kirkus Reviews Features, in an interview with the author, wrote, "The material breathes with sharp honesty and boasts an assured authorial voice... ." [9]

NPR named Intimacy Idiot one of its Best Books of 2015. [10]

Stephan Lee in a book review for Entertainment Weekly , wrote, "Like any young memoirist worth reading, Oliver has mastered the art of self-deprecation." [11] Kirkus Reviews , in its review, described Oliver's writing as "in-your-face funny but with surprisingly moving moments," [12] while Publishers Weekly wrote, "His chatty style and candor about sex is entertaining." [13]

In a feature article about Oliver, Metro , an international daily newspaper, called his book "a collection of essays, vignettes, poems, lists and diary entries that document the poignant, hilarious and awkward moments of intimacy between humans." [14]

Awards

In 2020, Oliver was nominated for a Writers Guild Award for his episode "Trick" from the fourth season of High Maintenance. [15] In 2011, Oliver took home a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Short Script for his short play Come Here. [16]

Personal life

Oliver, who is homosexual, has said, "I'm very proud to be gay. I'm very thankful to be gay. If it were a choice, I'd choose it." [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Eugenides</span> American novelist and short story writer (born 1960)

Jeffrey Kent Eugenides is an American author. He has written numerous short stories and essays, as well as three novels: The Virgin Suicides (1993), Middlesex (2002), and The Marriage Plot (2011). The Virgin Suicides served as the basis of the 1999 film of the same name, while Middlesex received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in addition to being a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, and France's Prix Médicis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lipsky</span> American author (born 1965)

David Lipsky is an American author. His works have been New York Times bestsellers, New York Times Notable Books, Time, Amazon, The New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, and NPR Best Books of the Year, and have been included in The Best American Magazine Writing and The Best American Short Stories collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erik Larson (author)</span> American author and journalist

Erik Larson is an American journalist and author of mostly historical nonfiction books. His books include Isaac's Storm (1999), The Devil in the White City (2003), In the Garden of Beasts (2011), and Dead Wake (2015). The Devil in the White City won the 2004 Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category, among other awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Teachout</span> American writer (1956–2022)

Terrance Alan Teachout was an American author, critic, biographer, playwright, stage director, and librettist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gallagher Jr.</span> American actor

John Howard Gallagher Jr. is an American actor and musician best known for originating the role of Moritz Stiefel in the 2006 rock musical Spring Awakening, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He also played Johnny in Green Day's Broadway musical, American Idiot, Lee in the 2011 Broadway production of Jerusalem, and Edmund in the 2016 Broadway revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night. He portrayed Jim Harper in Aaron Sorkin's drama series The Newsroom, starred in the HBO mini-series Olive Kitteridge, and played Emmett DeWitt in 10 Cloverfield Lane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Drury</span> American writer

Tom Drury is an American novelist and the author of The End of Vandalism. He was included in the 1996 Granta issue of "The Best of Young American Novelists" and has received the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Berlin Prize, and the MacDowell Fellowship. His short stories have been serialized in The New Yorker and his essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Harper's Magazine, North American Review, and Mississippi Review.

<i>Lost and Found</i> (book) 2005 picture book by Oliver Jeffers

Lost and Found is a children's picture book by Oliver Jeffers, published in 2005. It won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Gold Award and was the Blue Peter Book of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauren Groff</span> American writer

Lauren Groff is an American novelist and short story writer. She has written five novels and two short story collections, including Fates and Furies (2015), Florida (2018), Matrix (2022), and The Vaster Wilds (2023).

<i>The Cat Who Came for Christmas</i> 1987 book by Cleveland Amory

The Cat Who Came for Christmas is the first book in a trilogy written by Cleveland Amory, an American author who wrote extensively about animal rights. Amory recounts his rescue and adoption of Polar Bear, a cat he featured in two future books. It was first published by Little, Brown and Company in 1987 and then in paperback by Penguin Books in 1988.

Four Way Books is an American nonprofit literary press located in New York City, which publishes poetry and short fiction by emerging and established writers. It features the work of the winners of national poetry competitions, as well as collections accepted through general submission, panel selection, and solicitation by the editors. The press is run by director and founding editor Martha Rhodes, who is the author of five poetry collections. Four Way Books titles are distributed by University of Chicago Press. The press has received grants from New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses through their re-grant program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Benedict</span> American novelist and journalist

Helen Benedict is an American novelist and journalist, best known for her writings on social injustice, the Iraq War and most recently, refugees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lily King</span> Writer

Lily King is an American novelist.

<i>CivilWarLand in Bad Decline</i> Collection of George Saunders short stories published 1992-1995

CivilWarLand in Bad Decline is a book of short stories and a novella by the American writer George Saunders. Published in 1996, it was Saunders's first book. Many of the stories initially appeared in different forms in various magazines, including Kenyon Review, Harper's, The New Yorker and Quarterly West. The collection was listed as a Notable Book of 1996 by The New York Times, as well as a finalist for the 1996 PEN/Hemingway Award.

Melissa Febos is an American writer and professor. She is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, Whip Smart (2010), and the essay collections, Abandon Me (2017) and Girlhood (2021).

<i>High Maintenance</i> American television series

High Maintenance is an American anthology comedy-drama television and web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The Guy, a cannabis courier, as he delivers his product to clients in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Each episode focuses on different characters as their lives intersect with The Guy. The full series consists of six web series followed by four television seasons, released from November 2012 to April 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottessa Moshfegh</span> American author (born 1981)

Ottessa Charlotte Moshfegh is an American author and novelist. Her debut novel, Eileen (2015), won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and was a fiction finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Moshfegh's subsequent novels include My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Death in Her Hands, and Lapvona.

Michael Cyril Creighton is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Howard Morris in Only Murders in the Building, Patrick in High Maintenance, Joe Crowley in Spotlight, and his Writers Guild of America Award-winning web series Jack in a Box.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah M. Broom</span> American writer

Sarah Monique Broom is an American writer. Her first book, The Yellow House (2019), received the National Book Award for Nonfiction.

<i>The Yellow House</i> (book) 2019 memoir by Sarah M. Broom

The Yellow House is a memoir by Sarah M. Broom. It is Broom's first book and it was published on August 13, 2019, by Grove Press. The Yellow House chronicles Broom's family, her life growing up in New Orleans East, and the eventual demise of her beloved childhood home after Hurricane Katrina. Broom also focuses on the aftermath of Katrina and how the disaster altered her family and her neighborhood. At its core, the book examines race, class, politics, family, trauma, and inequality in New Orleans and America. The Yellow House won the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

Prior to his career in social criticism, the American writer Paul Goodman had a prolific career in avant-garde literature, including some 18 works for the stage. His plays, mostly written in the 1940s, were typically experimental. Their professional productions were either unsuccessful or flopped, including the three productions staged with The Living Theatre in the 1950s and one with The American Place Theatre in 1966. His lack of recognition as a litterateur in the 1950s helped drive him to his successful career in social criticism in the 1960s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Larson, Sarah (August 22, 2016). "Isaac Oliver: Reading as Cabaret". The New Yorker. New Yorker magazine.
  2. "The Rumpus Interview with Isaac Oliver". August 14, 2015.
  3. Boyd, Betsy (August 18, 2015). "How Happy are we?". Baltimore Style. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  4. Colony, The MacDowell. "The Portable MacDowell". The Portable MacDowell. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  5. "An Evening with Isaac Oliver - Creative Alliance". creativealliance.org.
  6. BWW News Desk. "HBO Comedy Series HIGH MAINTENANCE Returns for Season 2 on 1/19".
  7. "Isaac Oliver Lonely Christmas One Night Stand". October 9, 2017.
  8. "Isaac Oliver's Lonely Christmas". KPBS Public Media.
  9. James McDonald (June 2, 2015). "Isaac Oliver". Kirkus Reviews Feature.
  10. "NPR's Book Concierge".
  11. Lee, Stephan (June 8, 2015). "'Intimacy Idiot' by Isaac Oliver: EW review". Entertainment Weekly.
  12. "INTIMACY IDIOT by Isaac Oliver - Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews.
  13. "Nonfiction Book Review: Intimacy Idiot by Isaac Oliver. Scribner, $24 (288p) ISBN 978-1-4767-4666-1". Publishers Weekly.
  14. Matthew Lee (June 19, 2015). "Isaac Oliver talks 'Intimacy Idiot,' PrEP and the strangest thing to hit his face recently". Metro.
  15. "2020 Nominees - Writers Guild Awards". awards.wga.org. Archived from the original on May 9, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  16. "2011 Honorees - New York Innovative Theatre Awards". nyitawards.com.