Nathan Englander American writer Country: USA

Biography of Nathan Englander

Nathan Englander is an acclaimed American writer and author of several collections of short stories, for which he has received multiple prestigious international literary awards. His stories revolve around the relationship between ordinary people and religion, exploring the complex dynamics that arise and revealing unexpected qualities and character traits in his characters. Englander was born in 1970 in Long Island, New York, into an Orthodox Jewish family. He spent much of his childhood among religious Jews in New York and began studying Jewish religious literature at an early age. After completing his education at the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, Nathan attended the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he studied literature and creative writing. He later honed his writing skills at the University of Iowa. Although Englander started writing stories in school, his first collection, "For the Relief of Unbearable Urges," was not published until the late 1990s. The collection comprised nine short stories that delved into the obscure and distant world of Judaism, with its laws and rules, offering insights into how the characters navigate seemingly impossible situations. The title of the collection received criticism from religious Jews, as the phrase "for the relief of unbearable urges" traditionally refers to a rabbinical permit allowing a man to visit a woman of ill repute. Despite the controversy, the book quickly became a bestseller, and Englander garnered a range of prestigious awards, including Guggenheim Fellowships, the Bard Fiction Prize, and membership in the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center and the New York Public Library Writers' Club. Nathan's second work, the novel "The Ministry of Special Cases," told the story of the so-called "Dirty War" in Argentina. In an interview, he revealed that he had initially intended to steer clear of politics, but writing the novel made him realize that politics is at the core of contemporary society and human thinking. The novel was published in April 2007 but did not achieve the same level of popularity as his first book. His latest collection of stories, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank," was released on February 7, 2012. The book once again explores the eternal conflict between the lives of ordinary people and the religious systems that govern them. In the titular story, Englander analyzes the value system of a secular Jewish family and their long-time friends who have become Hasidic in Israel, presenting conclusions that challenge existing stereotypes about religious families. Shortly after the collection's release, Englander received the prestigious Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. The title story of the collection was published in "The New Yorker" magazine in December of the same year. Today, Nathan resides in Brooklyn, New York, and Madison, Wisconsin. In the early 2000s, he lived in Israel for about five years. Nathan also teaches creative writing at Hunter College in New York.