View source for Alice McDermott

{{short description|American writer, novelist, essayist (born 1953)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| image            = Alice mcdermottP5188188.jpg
| name             = Alice McDermott
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1953|06|27|mf=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Brooklyn, New York]], U.S.
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| occupation       = [[Novelist]], [[essay]]ist
| education        = [[State University of New York, Oswego]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[University of New Hampshire]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])
| genre            = [[Literary fiction]]
| website          = {{URL|https://www.alice-mcdermott.com}}
| caption          = McDermott at the 2024 Gaithersburg Book Festival
}}
'''Alice McDermott''' (born June 27, 1953) is an American writer and university professor. She is the author of nine novels and a collection of essays. For her 1998 novel ''[[Charming Billy]]'' she won an [[American Book Award]]<ref name="ABA">{{cite web |author=American Booksellers Association |year=2013 |title=The American Book Awards / Before Columbus Foundation [1980–2012] |url=http://www.bookweb.org/btw/awards/The-American-Book-Awards---Before-Columbus-Foundation.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313174235/http://bookweb.org/btw/awards/The-American-Book-Awards---Before-Columbus-Foundation.html |archive-date=March 13, 2013 |access-date=September 25, 2013 |work=BookWeb |quote='''''1999''''' [...] ''Charming Billy, '''Alice McDermott'''''}}</ref> and the U.S. [[National Book Award for Fiction]]<ref name="nba1998">
{{Cite web |others=(With essays by Alice Elliott Dark and Katie McDonough from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog) |title=National Book Awards 1998 |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1998/ |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=National Book Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> and was a finalist for the [[International Dublin Literary Award]] and the [[Women's Prize for Fiction|Orange Prize]]. ''That Night'', ''At Weddings and Wakes'', and ''After This'' were finalists for the [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]]. Her most recent novel, ''Absolution'' was awarded the [[Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award]].

From 2002 to 2019, McDermott was the [[Johns Hopkins University]]'s [[Richard A. Macksey]] Professor of the Humanities.

==Life==
McDermott was born in [[Brooklyn, New York]]. She attended St. Boniface School in [[Elmont, New York]], on Long Island (1967), Sacred Heart Academy in [[Hempstead, New York|Hempstead]] (1971), and the [[State University of New York at Oswego]], receiving her BA in 1975, and received her MA from the [[University of New Hampshire]] in 1978.[[File:Alice McDermott (49534724946).jpg|thumb|McDermott (left) speaking in 2020|left]] She is the recipient of several honorary degrees including [[Boston College]], [[Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies]], [[University of New Hampshire]], [[State University of New York at Oswego|SUNY Oswego]], [[Mount St. Mary's University]], [[La Salle University]], [[Regis College (Massachusetts)|Regis College]], [[College of the Holy Cross|The College of the Holly Cross]].

She has taught at [[University of California at San Diego|UCSD]] and [[American University]], has been a writer-in-residence at [[Lynchburg College]] and [[Hollins College]] in [[Virginia]], and was lecturer in English at the [[University of New Hampshire]]. In 2012 she was the D'Angelo Scholar-in-Residence, [[St. John's University (New York City)|St. John's University]]. From 2002 to 2019, McDermott was the Richard A. Macksey Professor of the Humanities at [[Johns Hopkins University]]. For two decades McDermott served on the faculty of [[Sewanee Writers' Conference|Sewanee Writers Conference]]. Her short stories have appeared in ''[[Harper's Bazaar]]'', ''[[Commonweal (magazine)|Commonweal]]'', ''[[The Sewanee Review]]'', ''[[Ms. (magazine)|Ms.]]'', ''[[Redbook]]'', ''[[Mademoiselle (magazine)|Mademoiselle]]'', ''[[The New Yorker]]'', [[Good Housekeeping]], and ''[[Seventeen (American magazine)|Seventeen]]''. She has also published articles in ''[[The New York Times]]'' and ''[[The Washington Post]]''.

McDermott lives outside [[Washington, D.C.]], with her husband, a [[neuroscientist]], and three grown children. She is Catholic, though she once deemed herself "not a very good Catholic."<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=The lunatic in the pew - BCM - Summer 2003 |url=http://bcm.bc.edu/issues/summer_2003/ft_natural.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060707180958/http://bcm.bc.edu/issues/summer_2003/ft_natural.html |archive-date=2006-07-07 |access-date= |website=bcm.bc.edu}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
{{incomplete list|date=January 2014}}

=== Literary awards ===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year !! Title !! Award 
!Category!! Result !! Ref.
|-
! rowspan="2" | 1987
| rowspan="4" | ''That Night'' || [[Los Angeles Times Book Prize|''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize]]
|[[Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction|Fiction]]|| {{sho|Finalist}} ||
|-
| [[National Book Award]]
|[[National Book Award for Fiction|Fiction]]|| {{sho|Finalist}} || <ref name="nba1987">{{Cite web |title=National Book Awards 1987 |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1987/ |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=National Book Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" |1988
| [[PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction]] 
|—|| {{sho|Finalist}} ||
|-
| [[Pulitzer Prize]] 
|[[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction|Fiction]]|| {{sho|Finalist}} || <ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |title=Fiction |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/219 |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=The Pulitzer Prizes |language=en}}</ref>
|-
! 1992
| ''At Weddings and Wakes'' || [[Pulitzer Prize]] 
|[[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction|Fiction]]|| {{sho|Finalist}} || <ref name=":0" />
|-
! 1998
| rowspan="4" | ''Charming Billy'' || [[National Book Award]]
|[[National Book Award for Fiction|Fiction]]|| {{won}} ||<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Book Awards – 1998 |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1998 |access-date=2012-03-27}}</ref>
|-
!1999
| [[American Book Awards|American Book Award]]
|—|| {{won}} ||
|-
! rowspan="2" |2000
|[[International Dublin Literary Award]]
|—|| {{sho|Finalist}} 
|
|-
| [[Women's Prize for Fiction]] 
|—|| {{sho|Finalist}} || <ref>{{Cite web |title=Charming Billy |url=https://womensprize.com/library/charming-billy/ |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=Women's Prize |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
! 2002
| ''Child of My Heart: A Novel'' || [[International Dublin Literary Award]] 
|—|| {{nom|Longlisted}} ||
|-
!2006
| rowspan="2" |''After This''
| [[Pulitzer Prize]]
| [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction|Fiction]]|| {{sho|Finalist}} ||
|-
!2007
|[[Audie Awards|Audie Award]]
|[[Audie Award for Literary Fiction or Classics|Literary/Classics]]|| {{sho|Finalist}} 
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |2013
| rowspan="4" |''Someone''
| [[National Book Award]]
| [[National Book Award for Fiction|Fiction]]|| {{nom|Longlisted}} ||
|-
| [[National Book Critics Circle Award]]
| [[National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction|Fiction]]|| {{sho|Finalist}} 
|<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=2013 |url=https://www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/2013/ |access-date=2022-01-25 |website=National Book Critics Circle |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
!2014
|[[Dayton Literary Peace Prize]] 
|—|| {{sho|Finalist}} 
|
|-
!2015
|[[International Dublin Literary Award]]
|—
|{{Sho}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=2015 - Harvest |url=https://dublinliteraryaward.ie/the-library/prize-years/2015-diary-of-the-fall/ |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=Dublin Literary Award |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" |2017
| rowspan="5" |''The Ninth Hour''
|[[Kirkus Prize]]
|Fiction|| {{sho|Finalist}} 
|<ref name="2017 Kirkus Prize">{{Cite web |title=2017 Kirkus Prize |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/prize/2017/ |access-date=November 26, 2020 |website=[[Kirkus Reviews]]}}</ref>
|-
|[[National Book Critics Circle Award]]
|[[National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction|Fiction]]|| {{sho|Finalist}} 
|<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=2017 |url=https://www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/2017/ |access-date=2022-01-25 |website=National Book Critics Circle |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" | 2018
| [[Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction|Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence]]
| Fiction|| {{nom|Longlisted}} 
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=2018 Winners {{!}} Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence |url=https://www.ala.org/carnegie-medals/2018-winners |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=www.ala.org |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|[[Prix Femina étranger]]
| —|| {{won}} 
|<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-11-07 |title=Alice McDermott wins France's Prix Femina for best foreign novel of the year |url=https://writingseminars.jhu.edu/2018/11/07/alice-mcdermott-wins-frances-prix-femina-for-best-foreign-novel-of-the-year/ |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=The Writing Seminars |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
!2019
|[[International Dublin Literary Award]]
|—|| {{nom|Longlisted}} 
|<ref>{{Cite web |last=Glyer |first=Mike |date=2018-11-20 |title=2019 International DUBLIN Literary Award Longlist |url=https://file770.com/2019-international-dublin-literary-award-longlist/ |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=File 770 |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" | 2024
| rowspan="2" | ''Absolution'' || [[Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award]] 
|—|| {{won}} ||
|-
| [[PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction]]
|—|| {{sho|Finalist}} ||<ref>{{Cite web |title=Announcing the Finalists for the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction {{!}} The PEN/Faulkner Foundation |url=https://www.penfaulkner.org/2024/03/05/announcing-the-finalists-for-the-2024-pen-faulkner-award-for-fiction/ |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=www.penfaulkner.org}}</ref>
|}

=== Honors ===
* 1987 – [[Whiting Awards|Whiting Award]]
* 2004 – Gaudium Prize
* 2008 – Corrington Award for Literature
* 2010 – Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence
* 2013 – Inducted into the [[New York Writers Hall of Fame]]
* 2015 – Mary McCarthy Award, Bard College
* 2019 – Seamus Heaney Award for Literature, Glucksman Ireland House
* 2024 – Inducted into the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
* 2024 – Recipient of the Eugene O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award

==Selected works==

===Novels===
* {{cite book |ref=none |first=Alice |last=McDermott |author-mask=2 |title=A Bigamist's Daughter |url=https://archive.org/details/bigamistsdaughte00alic |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=1982}}
* {{cite book |ref=none |first=Alice |last=McDermott |author-mask=2 |title=That Night |year=1987 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=9781429929745 |title-link=That Night (novel)}}
* {{cite book |ref=none |first=Alice |last=McDermott |author-mask=2 |title=At Weddings and Wakes: A Novel |year=1992 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=9781429929622}}
* {{cite book |ref=none |first=Alice |last=McDermott |author-mask=2 |title=Charming Billy |year=1998 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=9781429929707 |title-link=Charming Billy}}
* {{cite book |ref=none |first=Alice |last=McDermott |author-mask=2 |title=Child of My Heart |year=2002 |edition=paperback 1st |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=9781408806678}}
* {{cite book |ref=none |first=Alice |last=McDermott |author-mask=2 |title=After This |year=2006 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=9780440337300 |title-link=After This}}
* {{cite book |ref=none |first=Alice |last=McDermott |author-mask=2 |title=Someone |year=2013 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=9780374281090 |title-link=Someone (McDermott novel)}}
* {{cite book |ref=none |first=Alice |last=McDermott |author-mask=2 |title=The Ninth Hour: A Novel |year=2017 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=9780374280147}}
* {{cite book |ref=none |first=Alice |last=McDermott |author-mask=2 |title=Absolution: A Novel |year=2023 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=9780374610487}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Patrick |first=Bethanne |date=2023-11-07 |title='I look for the scary story': How Alice McDermott turned the Vietnam War novel inside out |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-11-07/i-look-for-the-scary-story-how-alice-mcdermott-turned-the-vietnam-war-novel-inside-out |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Essays===
* {{cite book |ref=none |first=Alice |last=McDermott |author-mask=2 |title=What About the Baby? |year=2021 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |isbn=9780374130626}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=McDermott |first=Alice |title=Books |url=https://www.alice-mcdermott.com/books |url-status=live |access-date=2021-07-01 |website=Alice McDermott |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182644/https://www.alice-mcdermott.com/books |archive-date=2021-07-09 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What About the Baby? |url=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374130626 |url-status=live |access-date=2021-07-01 |website=Macmillan Publishers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603121108/https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374130626 |archive-date=2021-06-03 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Alice McDermott}}
* {{official website |https://www.alice-mcdermott.com/}}
* {{Facebook|id=alicemcdermottauthor}}
* [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7505.Alice_McDermott Alice McDermott] on [[Goodreads]]
* [http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=274 Biography] at BookBrowse.com
* [https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/alice-mcdermott/ Bibliography] at FantasticFiction
* [http://lccn.loc.gov/n81122668 Alice McDermott] at [[Library of Congress]] Authorities — with 14 catalog records
* [https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/7474/alice-mcdermott-the-art-of-fiction-no-244-alice-mcdermott Alice McDermott, The Art of Fiction No. 244], ''Paris Review'', Fall 2019

=== Publisher profiles ===
* [https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/users/alice-mcdermott Profile] at ''[[Commonweal (magazine)|Commonweal]]''
* [http://thesewaneereview.com/media/podcast/alice-mcdermott Profile] at ''[[The Sewanee Review]]''
* [http://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/alice-mcdermott#/ Profile] at Whiting Foundation

=== Reviews ===
* [https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/absolution/ Profile] at [[Literary Hub|Book Marks]]
* [https://www.kirkusreviews.com/author/alice-mcdermott/ Reviews] by ''[[Kirkus Reviews|Kirkus]]''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080125101011/http://www.metacritic.com/books/authors/mcdermottalice/afterthis ''After This'' Reviews] at [[Metacritic]]

{{NBA for Fiction 1975–1999}}
{{American Book Awards}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDermott, Alice}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American women novelists]]
[[Category:American Book Award winners]]
[[Category:Catholics from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty]]
[[Category:National Book Award winners]]
[[Category:Novelists from Maryland]]
[[Category:PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners]]
[[Category:People from Elmont, New York]]
[[Category:People from Hempstead, New York]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:State University of New York at Oswego alumni]]
[[Category:The New Yorker people]]
[[Category:Writers from Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Novelists from New York City]]
[[Category:Prix Femina Étranger winners]]
[[Category:American women academics]]