David Ebershoff

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David Ebershoff is an American-born writer, editor, and teacher. Born in Pasadena, California, he is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Chicago, and studied at Keio University in Tokyo.

He published his first novel, The Danish Girl, in 2000. It is based on the life of Lili Elbe, the first person to undergo sex reassignment surgery. The novel is being developed for the screen by producer Gail Mutrux ("Kinsey"). It won the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Lambda Literary Award. It was also a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award and an American Library Association Award and was a New York Times Notable book. He published his first collection of short stories, The Rose City, in 2001. It won the Ferro-Grumley Award, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and was named one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times. His second novel, Pasadena, was published in 2002 and was a New York Times bestseller. His fiction has been translated into a dozen languages and published around the world to critical acclaim.

His third novel, The 19th Wife, will be published in August, 2008. The novel is about Brigham Young's final wife, Ann Eliza Young, as well as polygamy in the United States today.

Ebershoff is editor-at-large at Random House, where he edits a wide range of writers including Norman Mailer, David Mitchell, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Shirin Ebadi, journalist Azadeh Moaveni, novelist Charles Bock, and historian Hugh Thomas. Ebershoff was Jane Jacobs's editor on her final two books. Working with Truman Capote's estate, he oversees the Capote publications for Random House, and was the editor of The Complete Stories of Truman Capote, Summer Crossing, and Portraits and Observations. He was formerly the publishing director of Random House's classics imprint, the Modern Library.

Ebershoff has taught writing at NYU and Princeton, and currently teaches literature in the MFA program at Columbia University. He lives in New York City.