Adam Gopnik

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Adam Gopnik, (born 1956) a writer, essayist and commentator, is primarily known for his work published by The New Yorker, for which he has written since 1986. He was born on August 24th, 1956 in Philadelphia, but raised in Montreal. His parents were professors at McGill University, from which Gopnik received a Bachelor of Arts degree. He lives in New York with his wife, Martha Parker, and two children Luke and Olivia.

In 1995, The New Yorker dispatched him to Paris to write the "Paris Journals", in which he described life in the City of Light. These essays were later collected and published by Random House in Paris to the Moon, after Gopnik returned to New York City in 2000. Since then, he has continued to write for The New Yorker on a wide variety of subjects.

In 2005 Hyperion Books published his children's novel The King in the Window, about Oliver, an American boy living in Paris, who is mistaken for a mystical king and stumbles upon an ancient battle waged between Window Wraiths and the malicious Master of Mirrors, luring him into a journey of self-discovery that could save the world.

A frequent guest on the Charlie Rose show, Gopnik's work has been honored with three National Magazine Awards for Essay and Criticism and a George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting, and his entry on the culture of the United States is featured in the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Adam Gopnik recently wrote and presented BBC Four's "Lighting Up New York", a cultural journey through the recent history of New York. He also recently published a collection of essays entitled Through the Children's Gate which focus primarily on his two children, Luke and Olivia, growing up in New York City.