Alec Wilkinson

Alec Wilkinson (b. 1952 - ) is a writer who has been on the staff of "The New Yorker" since 1980. According to "The Philadelphia Inquirer" he is among the "first rank of" contemporary American (20th Century and early 21st Century) "literary journalists...(reminiscent) of Naipaul, Norman Mailer and Agee." He is the author of eight books: "Midnights," (1982), "Moonshine," (1985), "Big Sugar," (1989), "The Riverkeeper," (1981), "A Violent Act, (1993), "My Mentor," (2002), "Mr. Apology," (2003), and "The Happiest Man in the World," (2007), the latter about Poppa Neutrino, the only man to cross the Atlantic in a raft made of trash. Before Wilkinson was a writer, he was a policeman in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, which is the subject of "Midnights," and before that he was a rock and roll musician, playing in a number of bands, including one in Berkeley, California with Tony Garnier, Bob Dylan's longtime bass player and bandleader. Wilkinson began writing when he was twenty-four, showing work to William Maxwell, his father's friend, who in addition to being a novelist and short-story writer, had for forty years been an editor of fiction at The New Yorker. They worked together closely for years. Maxwell died in July of 2000. "My Mentor" describes their friendship. Wilkinson's honors include a Lyndhurst Prize, a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and a Guggenheim fellowship. He is married, has a son, and lives in New York City.

External links

* [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1987/08/17/1987_08_17_018_TNY_CARDS_000345786 The New Yorker link to an article by Alec Wilkinson.]
* [http://wiredforbooks.org/alecwilkinson/ Alec Wilkinson interviews Don Swaim. Audio.]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13&prgDate=10-May-2002 Alec Wilkinson on National Public Radio.]
* [http://worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/51983501?page=frame&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.loc.gov%2Fcatdir%2Fsamples%2Fhm051%2F2003047837.html&title=&linktype=digitalObject&detail= Sample text from "Mr. Apology and Other Essays" by Alec Wilkinson.]