Literary Matters

I’ve written about books and authors for a variety of publications, including the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, Humanities Magazine, Washington City Paper, and many more. I like talking about books too: I’ve been a featured guest on BBC Radio 4, the Diane Rehm Show, Wisconsin Public Radio, and other programs. From 2009 to 2015 I served as board member of the National Book Critics Circle, twice serving as its fiction chair.

For a few years this site was home to a blog I wrote called “American Fiction Notes,” which enjoyed some popularity in the literary blogosphere. I haven’t updated it in quite some time, but you can take a look at old posts here.

I’ve also written or contributed to a few books myself. My most recent book is The New Midwest: A Guide to Contemporary Fiction of the Great Lakes, Great Plains, and Rust Belt. You can learn more about that book and the nice things people have said about it (and perhaps buy your own copy!) on the dedicated page for the book. In addition, I’m the author of Lyons, a photo history of the Chicago suburb where I grew up, and I was a co-author of The Dumbest Moments in Business History, based on the popular Business 2.0 feature I helped write for a few years; I also contributed a few entries to The Salon.com Guide to Contemporary Authors.

Follow me on Twitter for updates on recent reviews I’ve written and links to bookish stuff.