For the Garden State, his 1988 collection of short stories, Gary Krist received the highly prestigious Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The reviews were entusiastic. "Smart and tender short stories written with enticing crispness...Krist is a remarkable writer, and just starting," said the Los Angeles Times. Bone by Bone, like the Garden State, takes its characters from the middle class of New Jersey, adding Brooklyn and upstate New York. Children, lovers, senior citizens; salesmen, morticians, college administrators. People of every possible sexual persuasion-including those who are not sure. But while Krist's humor thrives, his canvas now has darker, deeper tones as he explores the loneliness of misfits, the pain of separations, and the uneasiness of everyday relationships. A thought provoking, different, memorable collection of short stories, beautifully written.
Gary Michael Krist (born 1957) is an American writer of fiction, nonfiction, travel journalism, and literary criticism. Before turning to narrative nonfiction with
The White Cascade (2007), a book about the 1910 Wellington avalanche, Krist wrote three novels--
Bad Chemistry (1998),
Chaos Theory (2000), and
Extravagance (2002). He has also written two short story collections--
The Garden State (1988) and
Bone by Bone (1994).
He has been a frequent book reviewer for The New York Times Book Review, Salon, and The Washington Post Book World. His satire pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post Outlook section, and Newsday, and his stories, articles, and travel pieces have been featured in National Geographic Traveler, The Wall Street Journal, GQ, Playboy, The New Republic, Esquire, and on National Public Radio's "Selected Shorts." His short stories have also been anthologized in such collections as Men Seeking Women, Writers' Harvest 2, and Best American Mystery Stories.
He has been the recipient of The Stephen Crane Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Lowell Thomas Gold Medal for Travel Journalism, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Krist is a graduate of Princeton University. In 1979-80, he studied literature at the Universitaet Konstanz (Germany) on a Fulbright Scholarship. The author has been profiled in The New York Times Book Review (November 6, 1988) and the Style section of The Washington Post (February 25, 2007).
Krist lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife and daughter.
Works
- Novels and Story Collections
- The Garden State (1988)
- Bone by Bone (1994)
- Bad Chemistry (1998)
- Chaos Theory (2000)
- Extravagance (2002)
- Nonfiction
- The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche (2007)
