-
Get a Free Issue
of our Ezine!
How to pronounce John Updike: JON UHP-DYK
John Hoyer Updike was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1932.
Up until the age of 13 he lived in Shillington, near Reading (where his father was a science teacher) before moving to Plowville, PA. As a child he suffered from psoriasis and stammered, but, with the encouragement of his mother, found an outlet in writing and reading - consuming mysteries by the likes of Erle Stanley Gardner, Ellery Queen, Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr. He attended Harvard (which he chose because it was the home of the Harvard Lampoon - which he first contributed to, and later edited) where he majored in English. He once said, "My inability to read bravely as a boy had this advantage: when I went to college, I was a true tabula rasa, and received gratefully the imprint of my instructors' opinion, and got good marks."
He attended the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Arts in Oxford, England for a year between 1954-55, and then joined the staff of The New Yorker writing editorials, poetry, stories and criticism. Since the age of 23 he supported himself by writing. He was the father of four children and author of more than 50 books including novels, collections of short stories, poems and criticism. He won many awards including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the American Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Rosenthal Award, and the Howells Medal.
Partial Bibliography
This bio was last updated on 04/03/2013. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.
Martin Amis is the son of another famous British novelist, Kingsley Amis, and although he credits his initial welcome into the publishing world to his father's influence, much has been written about this father and son ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Terrorist
Try:
House of Meetings
by Martin Amis
John Banville, the author of seventeen novels, has been the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, a Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, and ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
My Father's Tears
Try:
The Sea
by John Banville
We recommend 15 similar authors
Libby Lost and Found
by Stephanie Booth
Libby Lost and Found is a book for people who don't know who they are without the books they love.
The Bog Wife
by Kay Chronister
Five West Virginia siblings unearth secrets after the rupture of a supernatural bargain tying their fate to their land.
We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
.png)
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
