CHARLES BAXTER

“Baxter’s legacy to fiction is clear: for more than twenty-five years he’s insisted that we’re kidding ourselves a little whenever we call ourselves ‘normal.” — Minneapolis Star-Tribune 

Charles Baxter has published seven story collections, most recently THERE’S SOMETHING I WANT YOU TO DO, which won the Minnesota Book Award for fiction. He is the author of five novels, including National Book Award finalist THE FEAST OF LOVE, made into a movie in 2007. His next book, WONDERLANDS: ESSAYS ON THE LIFE OF LITERATURE, is due out July 2022 from Graywolf Press.

Baxter’s essays on the writing craft are revered and beloved: his volumes include the classic BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE: ESSAYS ON FICTION, as well as THE ART OF SUBTEXT: BEYOND PLOT, which won the 2008 Minnesota Book Award for General Nonfiction. Baxter was the series editor for THE ART OF series of books with Graywolf Press, and editor of BRINGING THE DEVIL TO HIS KNEES: THE CRAFT OF FICTION AND THE WRITING LIFE. He has also published three volumes of poetry.

Baxter’s next book, a comic novel about a divorced Midwestern dad who takes a cutting-edge medical test and learns that he has a predisposition to murder, is out Nov 12, from Pantheon.

Baxter's awards include the Award of Merit in the Short Story and the Award in Literature, both from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Rea Award in the Short Story, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2024, he was inducted into the Academy of Arts and Letters as a member of its literature department.

Author Website: CHARLES BAXTER