Alan Cheuse

"The Voice of Books on National Public Radio"— that's how novelist, essayist, and short story writer Alan Cheuse has been described. For over twenty-five years, Cheuse has been "reading for America" every week on NPR, and writing a number of books of his own. He is the author of the novels The Grandmothers' Club and The Light Possessed, and The Bohemians, a historical novel about John Reed and Louise Bryant. His autobiographical Fall Out of Heaven focused in large part on the life of his father, a pilot in the Red Air Force during the 1930s. In his short stories, he has treated historical subjects from the conquest of Mexico to the boyhood of Ben Franklin. His forthcoming novel, To Catch the Lightning (October, 2008), follows the career of turn-of-the-century photographer Edward S. Curtis and his quest to photograph the western tribes of North America.

Cheuse was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and attended Rutgers University. He worked at various jobs, from toll-taker on the New Jersey Turnpike, to school teacher in Mexico, to journalist, before completing an advanced degree in comparative literature and taking a teaching post at Bennington College. He was in his late thirties before he began writing fiction. Since then, he has taught at various colleges and universities. Cheuse currently serves as a member of the writing faculty at George Mason University and the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.

Links:

Alan Cheuse's website
NPR contributor page
Interview with Littoral