MICHAEL CHABON Biography - Writers

 
 

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MICHAEL CHABON

Birth:                                                                               
Michael Chabon was born May 24, 1963 in Washington, DC.                             
                                                                                     
Best Known For:                                                                     
Michael Chabon is a novelist, screenwriter, columnist and short story writer,       
best know for his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay which won the     
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.                                                 
                                                                                     
Early Life:                                                                         
Michael Chabon grew up in the suburbs of Columbia, Maryland with his parents         
Robert, a physician, lawyer, and hospital administrator, and Sharon, a lawyer.       
His parents divorced when he was about 11, and Michael Chabon lived with his         
mother. He grew up reading comic books and knew from an early age that he wanted     
to be a writer.                                                                     
                                                                                     
Education:                                                                           
Michael Chabon earned an undergraduate degree in English from the University of     
Pittsburgh in 1984. In 1987, Chabon received a MFA in Creative Writing from the     
University of California at Irvine.                                                 
                                                                                     
Michael Chabon's master's thesis at UC Irvine was the novel, Mysteries of           
Pittsburgh. He never intended to publish the work, but his professor thought it     
was so good that he secretly sent the manuscript to an agent. Mysteries of           
Pittsburgh was published in 1988, and Michael received an astonishing $155,000       
for the work, one of the highest figures ever paid for a first novel by a young,     
unknown fiction writer. The novel achieved him instant fame and success.             
                                                                                     
Professional Career:                                                                 
Michael Chabon began writing and publishing short stories between 1987 and 1990,     
mostly in The New Yorker but also in Gentleman's Quarterly and Mademoiselle. His     
next novel, The Wonder Boys was published in 1995, and was made into a               
critically acclaimed movie by the same name in 2000. Clabon's third novel, The       
Adventures of Kavalier & Clay won him a Pulitzer Prize in 2001. Other works by       
Michael Chabon include A Model World, Werewolves in Their Youth, and a children's   
fantasy novel, Summerland.