Walter Kirn

Walter Kirn is an American novelist and critic who lives in Montana. A 1983 graduate of Princeton University, he has published a collection of short stories and several novels, including Thumbsucker, which was made into a 2005 film featuring Keanu Reeves and Vince Vaughn; Up in the Air; and Mission to America. In 2005, he took over pioneer blogger Andrew Sullivan's shoes for a few weeks while Sullivan was on vacation. He has also written The Unbinding, an Internet-only novel that was posted in Slate magazine. [cite web | title=The Unbinding: An exclusive Slate novel. By Walter Kim | work=Slate | url=http://www.slate.com/id/2137804/ | accessdate=2006-06-22]

He has also reviewed books for New York magazine and currently contributes to The New York Times Book Review and New York Times Sunday Magazine, and is a contributing editor of Time Magazine, where he has received popularity for his entertaining and sometimes humorous first-person essays among other articles of interest.

In addition to teaching nonfiction writing at the University of Montana, Kirn was the 2008-09 Vare Nonfiction Writer in Residence at the University of Chicago. [http://creativewriting.uchicago.edu/courses/08_autumn.shtml]

Kirn's family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was twelve, but Kirn is no longer affiliated with the church. [ [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4964686&ft=1&f=1033 NPR: Writer Walter Kirn, on a 'Mission to America' ] ]

Kirn married Maggie McGuane, a model and the daughter of actress Margot Kidder, in 1995. Kirn was 32 at the time; McGuane was 19. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE1D91F3DF935A2575BC0A963958260 CHRONICLE - New York Times ] ] The couple had two children, Masie and Charlie, and are now divorced.

References

External links

* Larry Weissman, [http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/1099/kirn/interview.html Interview with Walter Kirn] , Random House.
* Terry Gross, " [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4964686&ft=1&f=1033 Writer Walter Kirn, on a 'Mission to America'] ", "Fresh Air", NPR.
* [http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200711/multitasking Essay: "The Autumn of the Multi-Taskers"] , "The Atlantic Monthly", November 2007.