Darin Strauss

Darin Strauss is a best-selling American author who has written books for both adults and young adults. He is best known for the National Book Critics Circle award-winning novel, Half a Life, and his young adult novel,Chang and Eng. Strauss has also written for a variety of publications, including The New York Times, GQ, and other magazines.

Born and raised in New York, Strauss studied journalism at New York University before pursuing a career as a novelist. His first novel, Chang and Eng, won the APPLE Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The novel tells the story of two brothers conjoined at the chest and the societal pressures, trials, and tribulations they face growing up in the United States in the late nineteenth century.

Strauss followed up Chang and Eng with the critically acclaimed Half a Life, the story of a young man who survives a car accident that killed his classmate. Wrenched with guilt and grief, Straus explores the complicated feelings of regret, loss, and coming to terms with tragedy. Half a Life won the National Book Critics Circle award, among many other accolades, and was chosen by Reader's Digest as one of the "20 Best Books of 2010."

In addition to these two novels, Strauss has released two more since their publication. His third novel, The Real McCoy, was a New York Times bestseller about a con artist trying to get his life back together. Strauss' fourth and most recent book, Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, is a mystery set in the Deep South and tells the story of a woman trying to unravel the unexplained murder of her two sisters.

In addition to his books, Strauss has written articles for The New York Times, GQ, and other publications, as well as contributing blurbs or book endorsements to several publications. He's taught course in fiction writing at Columbia University and has taught writing workshops at the Summer Writing Program at the New York State Writers Institute. Strauss also works with the Creative Writing Program at the University of Wyoming and has served on panel discussions and juries for the National Book Awards and PEN/Faulkner Prize.

Darin Strauss' novels explore human nature and human motivation, while his articles and works of non-fiction address a variety of topics, including politics, modern culture, fashion, and technology. His writing often features themes of guilt, grief, change, and coming of age. As a best-selling author with numerous awards, Strauss is consistently recognized as a master of social realism and a leader in the literary fiction world.