Andrew Solomon biography, plus links to book reviews and book excerpts from books by Andrew Solomon.

Andrew Solomon Biography

Andrew Solomon studied at Yale University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1985, and then at Jesus College Cambridge, where he received the top first-class degree in English in his year, the only foreign student ever to be so-honored, as well as the University writing prize.

In 1988, he began his study of Russian artists, which culminated with the publication of The Irony Tower: Soviet Artists in a Time of Glasnost. He was asked in 1993 to consult with members of the National Security Council on Russian affairs and wrote parts of Clinton’s first Russia speeches; that year he was also named a Contributing Writer of The New York Times Magazine, a position he held until 2001. His recently reissued first novel, A Stone Boat, was a runner up for the LA Times First Fiction prize and was a national bestseller; it has now been published in 5 languages.

Solomon’s most recent book, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, has won him fourteen national awards, including the 2001 National Book Award, and is being published in 22 languages. It was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and has been on the New York Times bestseller list in both hardback and paperback. It was chosen an American Library Association Notable Book of 2001 and a New York Times Notable Book.

Solomon has lectured on depression around the world, including recent stints at Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress. He is a regular contributor to numerous publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Artforum. He has joined the board of the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign and of the Depression Center of the University of Michigan. He is on the advisory boards of Outward Bound and the Mental Health Policy forum at Columbia University, and on the Conservators’ Council of the New York Public Library. He is a fellow of Berkeley College at Yale University and is a member of the New York Institute for the Humanities and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Solomon married John Habich in an official civil partnership ceremony in 2007. They maintain residences in London and New York.

This biography was last updated on 06/08/2009.

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