Darin Strauss (born March 1, 1970) is an American writer based in Brooklyn, NY. His second and third novels were New York Times Notable Books, and his novel Chang and Eng was a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year, and one of Newsweek's 10 Best Books of 2000. Strauss is a 2006 recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and he currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. He teaches writing at New York University, for which he won a "Outstanding Dozen" teaching award in 2005.
Strauss has been called "a brave new voice in literature" by The Wall Street Journal , "a hugely talented writer with unlimited potential" by The Times (London), "one of the most sharp and spirited of his generation," by Powells Books, "sublime" and "brilliant" by The Boston Globe, "a magnificent and subtle writer" by Le Monde , a "master" by The Chicago Tribune, a novelist of "humor, humanity, and aching sadness" by The New York Times, "as lyrical as he is daring" by The New Yorker , "the most fearless of writers" by Salon.com, and "one of America's handful of young, great authors" by The Austin Chronicle .
He is married to the acclaimed journalist Susannah Meadows. His work has been translated into fourteen languages.
Darin Strauss was born in the Long Island town of Roslyn Harbor; he attended Tufts University, where he studied with Jay Cantor. His ALA Alix Award-winning best-selling 2000 first novel Chang and Eng -- a runner-up for the Barnes and Noble Discover Award, the Literary Lions Award, and a nominee for the PEN Hemingway award, among others -- is based on the lives of the famous conjoined twins. The rights to this novel were optioned to Disney, for the director Julie Taymor. Recently, the actor Gary Oldman purchased the rights from Disney. Strauss and Oldman are together adapting Chang and Eng for the screen.Strauss's second book, The Real McCoy (2002), was based on the life of the boxer Charles "Kid McCoy." A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year, The Real McCoy was also named one of the "25 Best Books of the Year" by the New York Public Library, and a "year-end favorite" by the Independent Small Book Sellers' Association.
Strauss's third novel, More Than It Hurts You, his first in a contemporary setting, was published by PenguinPutnam in 2008. The book made a number of year-end best-book lists, and was also a national bestseller -- reaching as high as #3 on both the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News lists in July, 2008. Publicity for the book was strong, and Strauss blogged about his extensive book-tour for Newsweek, and was featured on The CBS Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Good Morning America.
He appeared on This American Life in a July 2008 episode titled "Life After Death," in which he talks about the effects of a traffic accident during high school, in which a classmate on a bicycle swerved in front of his car, and was killed. Although he could not have avoided the accident, and was not at fault, he still felt guilty, and it affected him for decades. His next book, Half a Life, is an essay-length memoir based on this; it was be published by McSweeney's in September, 2010, and was excerpted in GQ magazine in July 2010, and This American Life in September -- and was named an Entertainment Weekly Must Read and a New York Times Editor's Pick. A book of short stories and non-fiction essays, Truth and Lies, is scheduled to follow later in that year, published by Penguin Putnam.
He has recently become, coincidentally for this author of "Chang and Eng," the father of identical twin boys.