Arthur Phillips

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This article is about the American novelist. For the Canadian politician, see Art Phillips.

Arthur Phillips (born April 23, 1969, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American novelist active in the 21st century. His novels include Prague (2002), The Egyptologist (2004) and Angelica (April 2007).

He was educated at Harvard (1986 - 1990) and Berklee School of Music, has been a child actor, a jazz musician, a speechwriter and a dismally failed entrepreneur. He lived in Budapest from 1990 - 1992, Paris from 2001 - 2003, and now lives in New York with his wife and two sons.

He won The Los Angeles Times/Art Seidenbaum Award for Best First Fiction for Prague in 2003.

Phillips was featured on the July 27, 2007 episode of This American Life, where he read his short story Wenceslas Square.

Prior to becoming a best-selling novelist, Phillips was a five-time champion on Jeopardy! in 1997. In 2005, he competed in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions. He won his opening-round game in dramatic fashion over Babu Srinivasan, but lost his Round Two match to former College Champion Pam Mueller.

While he lived in Budapest, Phillips was a regular on the nightclub scene. A mean dancer with snake hips and a penchant for Cuban heels, he formed a flamenco dance troupe called "Schmidt" with fellow Harvard expats Edgar Denninger and Hamish Mattison. The experiences of this trio are said to form the basis for Phillips's 2002 novel Prague.

[edit] External links

Interview with Arthur Phillips on The Ledge, an independent platform for world literature. Includes excerpt and audio.
J! Archive - Arthur's bio and game summary