Michael Cunningham

Michael Cunningham
Born (1952-11-06) November 6, 1952 (age 74)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
EducationStanford University (BA)
University of Iowa (MFA)
Occupations
Writing career
Notable workThe Hours
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for Fiction
PEN/Faulkner Award
Signature

Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is Professor in the Practice of Creative Writing at Yale University.

Early life and education

Cunningham was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in La Cañada Flintridge, California. He studied English literature at Stanford University, where he earned his degree. Later, at the University of Iowa, he received a Michener Fellowship and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. While studying at Iowa, he had short stories published in the Atlantic Monthly and The Paris Review. His short story "White Angel" was later used as a chapter in his novel A Home at the End of the World. It was included in "The Best American Short Stories, 1989", published by Houghton Mifflin.

In 1988, Cunningham received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and in 1993 a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1995 he was awarded a Whiting Award. Cunningham has taught at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and in the creative writing M.F.A. program at Brooklyn College.

Career

The Hours established Cunningham as a significant American writer. His 2010 novel, By Nightfall, was also well received by U.S. critics. Cunningham edited a book of poetry and prose by Walt Whitman, Laws for Creations, and co-wrote, with Susan Minot, a screenplay adapted from Minot's novel Evening. He was a producer for the 2007 film Evening, starring Glenn Close, Toni Collette, and Meryl Streep.

In November 2010, Cunningham judged one of NPR's "Three Minute Fiction" contests.

In April 2018, it was announced that Cunningham would serve as consulting producer for a revival of the Tales of the City miniseries, which is based on Armistead Maupin's book series of the same name. The miniseries premiered on June 7, 2019.

Personal life

Although Cunningham is gay, and married to psychoanalyst Ken Corbett, he dislikes being referred to as a gay writer, according to a PlanetOut article. While he often writes about gay people, he does not "want the gay aspects of [his] books to be perceived as their single, primary characteristic." Cunningham lives in Brooklyn, New York City, and works in Manhattan.

Bibliography

Cunningham reading at a W. H. Auden tribute in New York, 2007

Novels

Short stories

Collections:

  • A Wild Swan and Other Tales (2015), Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 978-0374290252, collection of 11 short stories:
    "Dis. Enchant.", "A Wild Swan", "Crazy Old Lady", "Jacked", "Poisoned", "A Monkey's Paw", "Little Man", "Steadfast; Tin", "Beasts", "Her Hair", "Ever/After"

Uncollected short stories:

Non-fiction

  • "The Slap of Love". Open City. 6. 1996., article
  • Land's End: A Walk in Provincetown (2002), travels
  • Company (2008), an essay on the influence of Virginia Woolf on Cunningham's writing
  • About Time: Fashion and Duration (2020), with Andrew Bolton, couture
  • Unsayable: A Life in Writing (2026), a writing memoir

Screenplays

Contributor

Adaptations

Awards and achievements

For The Hours, Cunningham was awarded the:

In 1995, Cunningham received a Whiting Award.

In 1996, Cunningham won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction for Flesh and Blood.

In 2011, Cunningham won the Fernanda Pivano Award for American Literature in Italy.

In 2024, Cunningham won the Premio Gregor von Rezzori for Day.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Meet the Writers: Michael Cunningham". barnesandnoble.com. Barnes & Noble. c. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-04-08. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
  2. ↑ "The Hours, by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  3. ↑ "Past Award Winners & Finalists | The PEN/Faulkner Foundation". www.penfaulkner.org. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  4. ↑ "Michael Cunningham | English". english.yale.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  5. ↑ "Michael Cunningham". SBA The Steven Barclay Agency. Archived from the original on 2023-06-26. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  6. ↑ Felicelli, Anita (September 13, 2022). "The Moment: Introducing the Special Guest in Conversation with Julie Otsuka". Alta. Archived from the original on 2022-09-13.
  7. ↑ Bawer, Bruce. "Literary life in the 1990s". The New Criterion. Retrieved 2026-09-01.
  8. ↑ "Literature Fellowships". www.arts.gov. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  9. ↑ "Michael Cunningham". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation... Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  10. ↑ "Michael Cunningham". www.whiting.org. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  11. ↑ Clark, Alex (2024-01-13). "Michael Cunningham: 'Some people have never forgiven me for not just writing The Hours again'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  12. ↑ metacritic entry on "Specimen Days"[dead link]
  13. ↑ "For Every Atom Belonging to Me: Poet Michael Cunningham", Radio Netherlands Archives, October 7, 2006
  14. ↑ "Three-Minute Fiction: The Winner Is ..." NPR.org. 14 November 2010.
  15. ↑ Petski, Denise (April 24, 2018). "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City Revival Gets Series Order At Netflix; Ellen Page Joins Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  16. ↑ Leland, John (October 24, 2002). "At Home With: Michael Cunningham; This Is the House The Book Bought". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  17. ↑ PlanetOut Entertainment Archived August 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ↑ Moore, Chadwick (September 30, 2010). "Catching Up with Michael Cunningham". Out. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  19. ↑ Alter, Alexandra (September 13, 2023). "Michael Cunningham Couldn't Help but Write a Pandemic Novel". The New York Times. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Charles Lane Press | Books".
  21. ↑ "Le menzogne di Cunningham e la musica di Servillo - la Repubblica.it". July 2011.
  22. ↑ "Michael Cunningham, Day". Rai Cultura (in Italian). Retrieved October 13, 2024.