Robert Bingham (1966 - November 28, 1999) was an American writer and a founding editor of the Open City Magazine. [1]
Bingham graduated from Brown University in 1988. [2] He then received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University. His fiction and non-fiction appeared in The New Yorker, and he worked for two years as a reporter for the Cambodia Daily. He wrote the short story collection Pure Slaughter Value and the novel Lightning on the Sun. Robert Bingham died of a heroin overdose at age 33 on November 28, 1999, six months after getting married and five months before the publication of his novel. [3] In Robert Bingham's honor, the PEN American Center has established the PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers, which awards $35,000 to the most exceptionally talented fiction writer whose debut work represents distinguished literary achievement. [4]
Bingham was a close friend of musician Stephen Malkmus; the title of "Church on White," a song from Malkmus's debut album, Stephen Malkmus, refers to Bingham's old New York City address.