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.

Books

• Chang and Eng (2000)
• The Real McCoy (2002)
• More Than It Hurts You (2008)
• Half a Life (Scheduled 2010)
• Truth and Lies (Scheduled 2010)

Selected Anthologies

• Lit Riffs (2004)
• The Dictionary of Failed Relationships (2004)
• Coaches (2005)
• A People's Fictional History of the United States (2006)
• An Encyclopedia of Exes (2004)
• Bloodshot: An Insomnia Anthology (2007)
• Brooklyn Was Mine (2008)
• Brothers (2009)
• The Book of Dads (2009)
• Top of The Order: Best-selling writers on Baseball (2010)

Other

• Mr. Beluncle, by V. S. Pritchett; Strauss wrote the new introduction (2005)