David Shields

Fiction Writer

Seattle, WA
Washington US
Email: 
dshields@davidshields.com
Website: 
www.davidshields.com

Author's Bio

David Shields is the internationally bestselling author of twenty books, including Reality Hunger (named one of the best books of 2010 by more than thirty publications), The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead (New York Times bestseller), and Black Planet (finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award). Other People: Takes and Mistakes is forthcoming from Knopf in February 2017. The recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, Shields has published essays and stories in the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Esquire, Yale Review, Salon, Slate, McSweeney’s, and Believer. His work has been translated into twenty languages.

Publications & Prizes

Books:
I Think You’re Totally Wrong: A Quarrel (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015)
,
War Is Beautiful: The New York Times Pictorial Guide to the Glamour of Armed Conflict (PowerHouse Books, 2015)
,
How Literature Saved My Life (Knopf, 2013)
,
Salinger (co-author) (Simon & Schuster, 2013)
,
Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (Knopf, 2009)
,
The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead (Knopf, 2008)
,
Body Politic: The Great American Sports Machine (Simon & Schuster, 2004)
,
Enough About You: Adventures in Autobiography (Simon & Schuster, 2002)
,
Baseball Is Just Baseball: The Understated Ichiro (TNI Books, 2001)
,
Black Planet: Facing Race during an NBA Season (Crown Publishers, 1999)
,
Remote: Reflections on Life in the Shadow of Celebrity (Knopf, 1996)
,
Handbook for Drowning: A Novel in Stories (Knopf, 1993)
,
Dead Languages: A Novel (Knopf, 1989)
,
Heroes: A Novel (Simon & Schuster, 1984)
Journals:
Believer
,
Conjunctions
,
Harper's
,
McSweeney's
,
Nerve
,
New York Times Magazine
,
Salon
,
Slate
,
Threepenny Review
,
Utne Reader
,
Village Voice
,
Witness
,
Yale Review
Prizes won: 

The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead named one of the best books of the year by Amazon, Artforum, Salon, TimeOut Chicago, and Seattle Times, 2008

Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award, for Black Planet, 2000

Finalist, PEN USA Award, for Black Planet, 2000

Washington State Governor’s Writers Award, for Dead Languages, 1990

PEN Syndicated Fiction winner, 1988, 1985

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now: 
Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee, The Last Novel by David Markson, The Pharmacist's Mate by Amy Fusselman, The Smoking Diaries by Simon Gray, Shuffle by Leonard Michaels

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Jewish
Prefers to work with: 
Adults
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Los Angeles
Raised in: 
San Francisco, CA
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Aug 30, 2016