Wilfrid Sheed

Wilfrid John Joseph Sheed (born December 27, 1930) is an English-born American novelist and essayist.

He was born in London to Francis "Frank" Sheed and Mary "Maisie" Ward, prominent Catholic converts and publishers (Sheed & Ward) in the UK and the USA in the mid-20th century. Wilfrid Sheed spent his childhood in both England and the United States before attending Oxford University.

His first novel, "A Middle Class Education" (1961), was based on his experiences at Oxford. His biography "Frank and Maisie" was about his parents' literary establishment and intellectual world. He has written satirical novels about journalism and in recent years memoirs. He recently published a book on American music, entitled "The House that George Built with a little help from Irving, Cole and a Crew of about Fifty".

Garrison Keillor reviewed the book as follows, in part:"Golden Age of American Song has been saluted and high-faluted in books and wept over repeatedly, but “The House That George Built” is a big rich stew of an homage that makes you want to listen to Gershwin and Berlin and Porter and Arlen all over again ... Sheed's jazzy prose is a joy to read. It goes catapulting along, digressing like mad, never pedantic, a little frantic, which is just right: the jazz song, like all true art, is a flight from depression, indifference, the cold blank stare, the earnest clammy touch. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/books/review/Keillor-t.html?ref=books The House That George Built - Wilfrid Sheed - Books - Review - New York Times ] ] .

Published works

* "A Middle Class Education". 1961.
* "The Hack". 1963.
* "Square's Progress". New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1965.
* "Office Politics". 1966.
* "Max Jamison". New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1970.
* "The Morning After: Selected essays and reviews". New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1971. ISBN 0374213054.
* "People Will Always Be Kind". New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1973. ISBN 0374230714.
* "Three Mobs: Labor, church, and Mafia". New York: Sheed & Ward, 1974. ISBN 0836205863.
* "The Good Word & Other Words". New York: Dutton, 1978. ISBN 0525115927.
* "Clare Boothe Luce". New York: Dutton, 1982. ISBN 0525030557.
* "Frank and Maisie: A memoir with parents". New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985. ISBN 0671449907.
* "The Boys of Winter: A novel". New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987. ISBN 039455874X.
* "Essays in Disguise". New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. ISBN 0394558758.
* "Baseball and Lesser Sports". New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. ISBN 0060165316.
* "My Life as a Fan". New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993. ISBN 0671767100.
* "In Love with Daylight: A memoir of recovery". New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. ISBN 0671792156.
* "The House that George Built with a little help from Irving, Cole and a Crew of about Fifty". New York: Random House, 2007 ISBN 9781400061051.

Awards and honors

* 1987 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes for his contribution to the liner notes for "The Voice – The Columbia Years 1943-1952", performed by Frank Sinatra.

References

External links

* [http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org "Writer's Almanac]
* [http://www.spl.org Seattle Public Library's online catalog]