Jason Brown (writer)

This article is about the American writer. For others with similar names, see Jason Brown (disambiguation).
Jason Brown
Born 1969 (age 46–47)
Hallowell, Maine
Occupation Writer, teacher
Nationality American
Period 1995–present
Genre Fiction
Notable works Driving the Heart (1999)
Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work (2007)
Website
writerjasonbrown.org

Jason Brown (born 1969)[1] is an American writer. He has published two collections of short stories, and his fiction has appeared in magazines including Harper's and The Atlantic.

Early life and education

Brown was born and raised in Hallowell, Maine, near the Kennebec River.[1][2][3] He attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and earned an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University.[4] In 1996, he received a Stegner Fellowship to study creative writing at Stanford University.[1][4]

Career

Driving the Heart

After its initial publication in the Mississippi Review, his story "Driving the Heart" was selected for The Best American Short Stories 1996.[5] The story later appeared in the 2012 collection Boston Noir 2: The Classics.[6]

In 1999, Brown's debut collection was published. The New York Times described Driving the Heart and Other Stories as "bleak yet penetrating," adding that "each of Brown's elegant stories echoes with the same quiet despair."[7] The 13 stories are mostly set in and around Portland, Maine, involving characters affected by tragic experiences past and present.[7][8] Driving the Heart was a starred review in Publishers Weekly, where it was called an "extraordinary debut collection."[8]

Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work

Brown's second collection of 11 loosely linked short stories, Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work: Stories, came out in 2007.[9][10] The 11 stories set in the fictional town of Vaughn in central Maine are linked by geography and tone,[5][11][12] with "weary, complicated souls" of all ages.[13] With the changes in narrative point of view within some of the stories, Brown has said he was influenced by the narration in the films of Terrence Malick – Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line in particular.[1] Some of the stories were originally published in magazines including Harper's, Epoch, Open City and The Atlantic.[14] The book was given an A- by Entertainment Weekly,[15] and was a starred review in Publishers Weekly.[16] The Los Angeles Times called it "an exceptionally beautiful and devastating book."[11] It was a suggested summer reading by NPR in 2009.[17]

Three of Brown's stories were named among the Best American Short Stories series "100 Other Distinguished Stories" in 1997, 2005 and 2010.[18] His story "Wintering Over" was published in The Southern Review in 2012, and nominated for a 2013 Pushcart Prize.[19]

Teaching

Brown previously taught creative writing at Stanford University as a Jones lecturer,[4] and at the University of Arizona's creative writing MFA program.[1] He is currently an associate professor at the University of Oregon's creative writing MFA program.[20]

Honors and awards

Bibliography

Short story collections

Stories (selected)

Articles

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Michael Miller, “Exile on Maine Street,” Time Out New York, November 22, 2007.
  2. ↑ Nina MacLaughlin, “Podcast: Jason Brown, author of Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” The Phoenix, July 17, 2008.
  3. ↑ Ray Routhier, “Short stories swirl in a fictional town on the Kennebec,” Portland Press Herald, November 18, 2007.
  4. 1 2 3 Yvonne Daley, “Success Stories,” Stanford Magazine, July/August 1999.
  5. 1 2 Greg Schutz, “Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work by Jason Brown,” Fiction Writers Review, September 19, 2008.
  6. ↑ Gabino Iglesias, “Boston Noir 2: The Classics,” Verbicide, November 25, 2012.
  7. 1 2 Jennifer Berman, “Books,” New York Times, May 2, 1999.
  8. 1 2 “Driving the Heart and Other Stories,” Publishers Weekly, April 1999.
  9. ↑ “Briefly Noted,” The New Yorker, December 24 & 31, 2007, p. 149.
  10. ↑ Carla Blumenkranz, “Jason Brown’s Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” Bookforum, Sept/Oct/Nov 2007.
  11. 1 2 Carolyn Kellog, “Down town,” Los Angeles Times, December 23, 2007.
  12. ↑ Johnny Ray Huston, “Lit: Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, January 8, 2008.
  13. ↑ Nina MacLaughlin, “A Review of Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” The Believer, May 2008.
  14. ↑ “Short-story Writer Jason Brown Opens Visiting Writers Series,” oregonstate.edu, October 9, 2008.
  15. ↑ Adam B. Vary, “Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” Entertainment Weekly, November 11, 2007.
  16. ↑ “Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” Publishers Weekly, November 2007.
  17. ↑ “Suggestions for Summer Reading,” NPR, May 29, 2009.
  18. ↑ “Fiction Points: Jason Brown,” Points, November 7, 2013.
  19. 1 2 “2013 Pushcart Prize nominees,” The Southern Review, December 5, 2012.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 Jason Brown, Associate Professor, University of Oregon Creative Writing Program. Accessed November 19, 2014.

External links

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