Jim Shepard
Jim Shepard | |
|---|---|
 Shepard at the 2015 Texas Book Festival | |
| Born | 1956 (age 67–68) Bridgeport, Connecticut |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
Jim Shepard (born 1956) is an American novelist and short story writer, who teaches creative writing and film at Williams College.
Biography
Shepard was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He received a B.A. at Trinity College in 1978 and an MFA from Brown University in 1980. He currently teaches creative writing and film at Williams College. His wife, Karen Shepard, is also a novelist. They are on the editorial board of the literary magazine The Common, based at Amherst College.[1]
Writing
Shepard's work has been published in
Several features characterize Shepard's writings, including a tendency to finish his stories with what Charles Baxter called an "in medias res ending", or an ending in the middle of the plot's events; a thematic focus on what Shepard calls the "costs of certain kinds of ethical passivity"; and a preference for events-driven plots that fight against what Shepard terms "the tyranny of the epiphany", referencing the more psychological, less active plots popularized by short story writers such as James Joyce. Additionally, Shepard writes from the point of view of characters of a wide variety of nationalities.[3]
Shepard's stories often rely on substantial historical research based on real events. His 2007 collection Like You'd Understand Anyway includes stories about the Greek playwright
Non c'è ritorno (66thand2nd; 2012) is a previously unpublished collection of Jim Shepard's short stories for the Italian market.[3][5]
Shepard is the winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story for 2016.
Shepard adapted his short story The World to Come, along with novelist Ron Hansen, into a screenplay for the 2020 film of the same name, directed by Mona Fastvold.
Bibliography
Novels
- Flights (1983), ISBN 0-394-53265-1
- Paper Doll (1987), ISBN 0-394-55519-8
- Lights Out in the Reptile House (1990), ISBN 0-393-02784-8
- Kiss of the Wolf (1994), ISBN 0-15-147279-3
- Nosferatu (1998), ISBN 0-8032-9346-1
- Project X (2004), ISBN 1-4000-4071-X
- The Book of Aron (2015)
- Phase Six (2021)
Story collections
- Batting against Castro (1996)
- Love and Hydrogen (2004)
- Like You'd Understand, Anyway (2007)
- You Think That's Bad (2011)
- The World to Come (March 2017)
Miscellaneous
- Editor, with Ron Hansen of You've Got to Read This: Contemporary American Writers Introduce Stories that Held Them in Awe (1994)
- Editor, with Amy Hempel of Unleashed: Poems by Writers' Dogs (1995)
- Editor, Writers at the Movies: Twenty-six Contemporary Authors Celebrate Twenty-six Memorable Movies
References
- ^ "About". The Common. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
- ^ "Author Details: Jim Shepard". Ploughshares. August 13, 2010. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
- ^ a b Hodgen, Christie (Spring 2011). "Jim Shepard". Bomb. No. 115. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
- ^ Diebel, Linda (May 16, 2015). "Toronto Star". thestar.com. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
- ^ "Non c'è ritorno" (in Italian). 66thand2nd.com. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
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