Life and career
Amidon was born in Chicago. [1] He grew up on the East Coast of the United States of America, including a spell in Columbia, Maryland, which served as the inspiration for his fourth novel The New City. [2] [3] Amidon attended Wake Forest University as a Guy T. Carswell Scholar, majoring in philosophy. [4] He moved to London, UK, in 1987, where he was given his first job as a critic by Auberon Waugh, who invited him to review a novel for The Literary Review . [5] In 1999 he returned to the US. [6]
His literary criticism and essays have appeared in many publications in North America and the UK [7] and he has also worked as a film critic for the Financial Times and the Sunday Times . [8] In November, 2013, Amidon was on the jury of the 31st Torino Film Festival. [9] Amidon has written two non-fiction books: The Sublime Engine with his brother Tom, a cardiologist, [10] and Something Like the Gods [11] which is dedicated to his son, Alexander, a first-team, all-ACC wide receiver for the Boston College football team. [12] [13]
In 2023, Wendy Smith of The Washington Post wrote, "Over the past three decades, Stephen Amidon has produced a series of novels as compulsively readable as they are hard-edged about such uncomfortable facts of American life as race, class and money." [14]
Stephen Amidon sold his first work of fiction in 1989, when the short story "Echolocation" was chosen by Ian Hamilton for inclusion in the Bloomsbury anthology Soho Square II. [15] He was awarded an Arts Council of Great Britain bursary for the short story in 1990. He is the author of a collection of short stories and seven novels, the most recent of which, Locust Lane, was released in 2023. [16] His fiction has been published in seventeen countries and has appeared on many best-of-the-year lists. [17] Amidon's novel Human Capital was chosen by Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post as one of the five best works of fiction of 2004. [18]
An Italian film adaptation of the novel Human Capital ( Il capitale umano ), directed by Paolo Virzì won best film at the 2014 David di Donatello, Nastro d'Argento, and Globi D'Oro Awards. [19] The film premiered in the U.S. at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, [20] and was Italy's entry for best foreign language film at the 2015 Academy Awards. [21]
In February 2015, Teatro Stabile di Torino premiered 6BIANCA, a serial drama, written by Stephen Amidon and directed by Serena Sinigaglia. [22] [23]
The Leisure Seeker , which Amidon adapted as a screenplay with Virzì, Francesca Archibugi, and Francesco Piccolo, premiered in completion at the 2017 Venice Film Festival. [24] The film stars Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland, [25] and the screenplay was nominated for Italian Golden Globe, [26] and David di Donatello awards. [27]
An American version of Human Capital , directed by Marc Meyers, adapted by Oren Moverman, and starring Liev Schreiber, Alex Wolff, Marisa Tomei, and Maya Hawke, premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. [28]
January 2020, filming began in Italy on an adaptation of Amidon's novel Security, directed by Peter Chelsom, and starring Marco D'Amore, Valeria Bilello, and Fabrizio Bentivoglio. [29] Security was released in Italy in May 2021, and elsewhere in June by Netflix, on which it became a worldwide hit. [30]
