Jonathan Dee is an American novelist and non-fiction writer. His fifth novel, “The Privileges”, was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...

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Life

Dee was born in New York City. He received a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, where he studied fiction writing with John Hersey

John Hersey

John Richard Hersey was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer and journalist considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling devices of the novel are fused with non-fiction reportage...

. His first job out of college was at The Paris Review as an Associate Editor and personal assistant to George Plimpton

George Plimpton

George Ames Plimpton was an American journalist, writer, editor, and actor. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review.-Early life:...

. He lives in New York City with his wife, the literary agent Denise Shannon, and their daughter.

Writing

Dee has written five novels, “The Lover of History”, “The Liberty Campaign”, “St. Famous”, “Palladio”, and “The Privileges”. He is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine – one of his articles is about Wikipedia itself – and contributor to Harper’s. He teaches in the graduate writing programs at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 and The New School

The New School

The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...

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Dee collaborated on the oral biography of Plimpton, “George, Being George”, published by Random House in 2008. He interviewed Hersey and co-interviewed Grace Paley

Grace Paley

Grace Paley was an American-Jewish short story writer, poet, and political activist.-Biography:Grace Paley was born in the Bronx to Isaac and Manya Ridnyik Goodside, who anglicized the family name from Gutseit on immigrating from Ukraine. Her father was a doctor. The family spoke Russian and...

 for The Paris Review’s The Art of Fiction series.

Awards and Fellowships

Dee was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2010 for criticism in Harper’s. He has received fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. His most recent novel, “The Privileges”, won the 2011 Prix Fitzgerald prize and was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He was the second winner of the St. Francis College Literary Prize

St. Francis College Literary Prize

The St. Francis College Literary Prize is a biannual literary award inaugurated in 2009. The prize of is presented to a mid-career author in honor of a third to fifth book of fiction. The winner is selected by a jury and invited to St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York for a speech...

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Works

• The Lover of History, 1990.
• The Liberty Campaign, 1993.
• St. Famous, 1996.
• Palladio, 2002.
• The Privileges, 2010.

External links

• Ready-made rebellion: The empty tropes of transgressive fiction
• The Millions Interview: Jonathan Dee
• The New Yorker: Live Chat with Jonathan Dee