Magician's Land (Grossman) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—June 26, 1969
• Raised—Concord, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Harvard College; Yale University (graduate studies)
• Awards—Alex Award; John W. Campbell Award
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York, New York USA

Lev Grossman is an American novelist and journalist, notably the author of the Magicians Trilogy: The Magicians (2009), The Magician King (2011), The Magician's Land (2014). He is a senior writer and book critic for Time.

Personal life
Grossman is the twin brother of video game designer and novelist Austin Grossman, and brother of sculptor Bathsheba Grossman, and the son of the poet Allen Grossman and the novelist Judith Grossman. He graduated from Harvard in 1991 with a degree in literature. Grossman then attended a Ph.D. program in comparative literature for three years at Yale University, but left before completing his dissertation. He lives in Brooklyn with a daughter named Lily from a previous marriage and his second wife, Sophie Gee, whom he married in early 2010. In 2012, his second child, Benedict, was born.

Journalism
Grossman has written for the New York Times, Wired, Salon.com, Lingua Franca, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York, Wall Street Journal, and Village Voice. He has served as a member of the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle and as the chair of the Fiction Awards Panel.

In writing for Time, he has also covered the consumer electronics industry, reporting on video games, blogs, viral videos and Web comics like Penny Arcade and Achewood. In 2006, he traveled to Japan to cover the unveiling of the Wii console. He has interviewed Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman, Joan Didion, Jonathan Franzen, J.K. Rowling, and Johnny Cash. He wrote one of the earliest pieces on Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Grossman was also the author of the " Person of the Year 2010" feature article on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Novels
Lev Grossman's first novel, Warp, was published in 1997 after he moved to New York City. Warp is about "the lyrical misadventures of an aimless 20-something in Boston who has trouble distinguishing between reality and Star Trek." His second novel Codex, was published in 2004, became an international bestseller.

In 2009 Grossman published the book that he is most well known for, The Magicians. It became a New York Times bestseller. The Washington Post called it “Exuberant and inventive.... Fresh and compelling...a great fairy tale.” The New York Times said the book "could crudely be labeled a Harry Potter for adults," injecting mature themes into fantasy literature.

The Magicians won the 2010 Alex Award, given to ten adult books that appeal to young adults; the book also and the 2011 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

The book's sequel, The Magician King, came out in 2011 and returns readers to the magical land of Fillory, where Quentin and his friends are now kings and queens. The Chicago Tribune called it "The Catcher in the Rye for devotees of alternative universes" and "a rare, strange and scintillating novel." It was an Editor's Choice pick of the New York Times, which referred to it as a "serious, heartfelt novel [that] turns the machinery of fantasy inside out." The Boston Globe called the it "a rare achievement, a book that simultaneously criticizes and celebrates our deep desire for fantasy."

The final book of the Magician's Trilogy, The Magician's Land, was published in 2014. Kirkus Reviews referred to it as a " brilliant fantasy filled with memorable characters" and called it "endlessly fascinating."

Grossman confirmed that he has sold the rights for a television adaptation of The Magicians but added that he's not certain the source material would be conducive to a film adaptation. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/21/14.)