The Modern Novel

Biography

Philipp Meyer was born in 1974 in New York. (Note some websites say that he was born in Baltimore while others merely say that he grew up in Baltimore. Given that the New Yorker article on the 20 under 40 announcement says he was born in New York, I will go with that.) He certainly grew up in Baltimore. His mother was an artist and his father an electrician. He dropped out of school when sixteen and worked as a bicycle mechanic. He later went to Cornell University where he studied English. After Cornell, he worked on Wall Street (to pay off his student loans). He took up writing and left the banking world, working towards becoming a paramedic. Most of his first novel, American Rust, was written while on a writing fellowship. He was named as one New Yorker’s best 20 under 40.

Other links

Philipp Meyer
Interview
Interview
Interview
Interview
Wild west wilderness (article by Meyer from On the road: five writers’ most memorable drives)