Far From the Tree (Solomon) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—October 30, 1963
• Where—New York City, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Yale University; M.A.,
   Cambridge University
• Awards— National Book Award, National Book Critics
   Circle Award
• Currently—lives in New York City and London, England


Andrew Solomon is a writer on politics, culture and psychology who lives in New York and London. He has written for the New York Times,  New Yorker, Artforum, Travel and Leisure, and other publications on a range of subjects, including depression, Soviet artists, the cultural rebirth of Afghanistan, Libyan politics, and deaf politics. His book The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression won the 2001 National Book Award, was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize, and was included in the London Times's list of one hundred best books of the decade.

Solomon attended the Horace Mann School, graduating cum laude in 1981. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1985, graduating magna cum laude, and later earned a Master's degree in English at Jesus College, Cambridge. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology, at Jesus College, Cambridge, working on attachment theory under the supervision of Professor Juliet Mitchell.

Personal
Solomon is the oldest son of Howard Solomon, the chairman of pharmaceutical manufacturer Forest Laboratories, and Carolyn Bower Solomon. Solomon described the experience of being present at his mother's planned suicide at the end of a long battle with ovarian cancer in an article for The New Yorker; in a fictionalized account in his novel  A Stone Boat, and again in The Noonday Demon. Solomon's subsequent depression, eventually managed with psychotherapy and antidepressant medications, inspired his father to secure FDA approval to market citalopram (Celexa) in the United States.

Born and raised in New York City, as an adult Solomon became a dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom. He and journalist John Habich had a civil partnership ceremony on June 30, 2007, at Althorp, the Spencer family estate and childhood home of Diana, Princess of Wales. The couple married again on July 19, 2009, the eighth anniversary of their meeting, in Connecticut, so that their marriage would be legally recognized in the state of New York.

In 2003, Solomon and longtime friend Blaine Smith decided to have a child together; their daughter, Carolyn Blaine Smith Solomon, was born in November 2007. Mother and child live in Texas. A son, George Charles Habich Solomon, was born in April 2009, and lives in New York with Solomon and Habich, his adoptive father. Habich is also the biological father of two children, Oliver and Lucy, born to lesbian friends who live in Minneapolis. The development of this composite family was the subject of a feature article by Solomon published in Newsweek in January 2011.

Publications and career
In 1988, Solomon began his study of Russian artists, which culminated with the publication of The Irony Tower: Soviet Artists in a Time of Glasnost (1991). His first novel was A Stone Boat (1994), the story of a man's shifting identity as he watches his mother battle cancer.

From 1993 to 2001, Solomon was a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine.

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression was originally published in 2001, and has been translated into twenty-four languages. It was named a Notable Book of 2001 by the New York Times and included in the American Library Association's 2002 list of Notable Books. It won the National Book Award for Nonfiction.

In 2003, Solomon's article, "The Amazing Life of Laura," a profile of diarist Laura Rothenberg, received the Clarion Award for Health Care Journalism, and the Angel of Awareness Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In April 2009, his article, "Cancer & Creativity: One Chef’s True Story,"[33] received the Bert Greene Award for Food Journalism by the International Association of Culinary Professionals;.the story was also a finalist for the 11th Annual Henry R. Luce Award..Solomon's reminiscence on a friend who committed suicide won the Folio Eddie Gold Award in 2011.

In addition to his magazine work, Solomon has written essays for many anthologies and books of criticism, and his work has been featured on National Public Radio's Moth Radio Hour.

Solomon's 2012 book, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, about how families accommodate children with physical, mental and social disabilities was named one of the 10 best books of 2012 by the New York Times. and won the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.

Activism and philanthropy
Solomon is an activist and philanthropist in LGBT rights, mental health, education and the arts. He is founder of the Solomon Research Fellowships in LGBT Studies at Yale University and a member of the boards of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Trans Youth Family Allies. His articles on gay marriage have appeared in Newsweek, The Advocate, and on Anderson Cooper 360.

Solomon has lectured widely on depression. His work in the arts and education includes service on the boards of numerous arts organizations, including New York's Metropolitan Museum. He is also a fellow of Berkeley College at Yale University, a member of the New York Institute for the Humanities, and the Council on Foreign Relations. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)