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Scott Heim | |
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![]() Scott Heim in April of 2016 | |
Born | Hutchinson, Kansas, U.S. | September 26, 1966
Occupation |
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Nationality | American |
Period | 1995–present |
Genre | Literary Fiction |
Subject | memory, sex, childhood trauma |
Notable works | Mysterious Skin (1995) We Disappear (2008) |
Notable awards | Lambda Literary Award for Fiction, 2009 |
Partner | Michael Lowenthal |
Scott Heim (born September 26, 1966) is an American novelist from Hutchinson, Kansas, currently living in Massachusetts. Heim's first novel, Mysterious Skin, was published in 1995. [1]
Scott Heim was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, [2] in 1966. He attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, earning a B.A. in English and Art History in 1989 and an M.A. in English Literature in 1991.[ citation needed ] He attended the M.F.A. program in Writing at Columbia University, where he wrote stories that evolved into his first novel, Mysterious Skin. [3] HarperCollins published that book in 1996, and Heim followed it with another novel, In Awe, about a makeshift family of Kansas misfits, in 1997. Kirkus Reviews called it a "disappointing follow-up to Mysterious Skin." In Awe, however, won the 1998 Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Fiction. [4]
In 2008, his novel We Disappear was published. Publishers Weekly described it as "Taut and beautifully clear, the writing at times recalls that of Paul Auster," but added "the plot ends in a place less interesting than where it began." [5]
In 2012, Heim began publishing a series of music-related nonfiction collections called "The First Time I Heard" series, for which he serves as editor. In these books, musicians and writers tell their stories of when they first heard an iconic band or artist. [6]
Heim won fellowships to the London Arts Board as their International Writer-in-Residence, and to the Sundance Screenwriters' Lab for his adaptation of Mysterious Skin. [7] He is also the author of a book of poems, Saved From Drowning (1993).
Mysterious Skin was adapted for the stage by playwright Prince Gomolvilas, premiering in San Francisco. It was subsequently adapted into a film of the same name by director Gregg Araki and Antidote Films. The movie starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Elisabeth Shue, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Mary Lynn Rajskub.
After living 11 years in New York, [8] Heim relocated to Boston in 2002 with his boyfriend, writer Michael Lowenthal. [9]
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