Tobias Wolff

Bio

Tobias Wolff is the author of the novels The Barracks Thief and Old School, the memoirs This Boy's Life and In Pharaoh's Army, and the short story collections In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, Back in the World, and The Night in Question. His most recent collection of short stories, Our Story Begins, won The Story Prize for 2008. Other honors include the PEN/Malamud Award and the Rea Award - both for excellence in the short story - the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. He has also been the editor of Best American Short Stories, The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, and A Doctor's Visit: The Short Stories of Anton Chekhov. His work appears regularly in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's, and other magazines and literary journals.

Academic Appointments

• Emeritus Faculty, Acad Council, English

Administrative Appointments

• Jones Lecturer in Creative Writing, Stanford University (1976 - 1978)
• Instructor, English and Creative Writing, Arizona State University (1978 - 1980)
• Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, English Department, Syracuse University (1980 - 1989)
• Jesse Truesdell Peck Professor of English, English Department, Syracuse University (1989 - 1997)

Honors & Awards

• Wallace Stegner Fellowship, Stanford University (1975)
• Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts (1978)
• Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation Award, Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation (1979)
• Arizona Council on the Arts and Humanities Fiction Award, Arizona Council on the Arts and Humanities (1980)
• St. Lawrence Award for Fiction, Black Lawrence Press (1982)
• Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, Guggenheim Foundation (1983)
• Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts (1985)
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, PEN/Faulkner Foundation (1985)
• Resident Artist's Fellowship, German Academy (1988)
• Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award, National Book Critics Circle (1989)
• Rea Award for Excellence in the Short Story, Dungannon Foundation (1989)
• Los Angeles Times Book Award, Los Angeles Times (1989)
• Whiting Foundation Award, Whiting Foundation (1989)
• Ambassador Book Award, English Speaking Union (1990)
• Lila Wallace Foundation Award, Lila Wallace Foundation (1993)
• Lyndhurst Foundation Award, Lyndhurst Foundation (1994)
• Finalist, National Book Award, National Book Foundation (1994)
• Esquire-Volvo-Waterstone's Award for Nonfiction, Esquire-Volvo-Waterstone (1994)
• Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Award, Los Angeles Times (1995)
• Chancellor's Citation for Exceptional Achievement, Syracuse University (1995)
• Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, Santa Clara University (1996)
• Fellow, honoris causa, Hertford College, Oxford University (2000)
• Academy Award in Literature, American Academy of Arts and Letters (2001)
• Fairfax Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, Fall for the Book Festival (2003)
• John Gardner Memorial Book Award, Harpur Palate (2004)
• Gold Medal, Bay Area Book Reviewers Association Award for Fiction, Bay Area Book Reviewers Association (2004)
• Silver Medal for Fiction, Commonwealth Club (2004)
• Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award, National Book Critics Circle (2004)
• Finalist, PEN/Faulkner Award, PEN/Faulkner Foundation (2004)
• Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Los Angeles Times (2004)
• Finalist, Prix de Medicis, La République des Lettres (2005)
• PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, PEN/Faulkner Foundation (2006)
• Barbary Coast Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, Litquake (2008)
• The Story Prize, The Story Prize (2009)
• The Stone Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, Oregon State University (2014)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

• Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009 - Present)

Professional Education

• M.A., Stanford University
• M.A., Oxon
• B.A., Oxford University, English Language and Literature