Ian Frazier

American journalist

Ian "Sandy" Frazier

Born	Ian Frazier 1951 (age 72–73) Cleveland, Ohio
Occupation	Non-fiction writer, humorist
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard University
Period	1974–present
Notable works	Great Plains (1989) Coyote v. Acme (1990) Travels in Siberia (2010)
Spouse	Jacqueline Carey

Ian Frazier (born 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American writer and humorist. He wrote the 1989 non-fiction history Great Plains, 2010's non-fiction travelogue Travels in Siberia, and works as a writer and humorist for The New Yorker.^[1]

Biography

Frazier grew up in Hudson, Ohio.^[2] His father, David Frazier, was a chemist,^[3] who worked for Sohio;^[4]^[5] his mother, Peggy, was a teacher, as well as an amateur actor and director,^[3] who performed in and directed plays in local Ohio theaters.^[6] He graduated from Western Reserve Academy in 1969 and from Harvard University in 1973.^[3]

Writing career

The New York Times critic James Gorman described Frazier's 1996 humor collection Coyote v. Acme (in the title piece, Wile E. Coyote is suing Acme Corporation, the manufacturer of products such as explosives and rocket-propelled devices purchased by the coyote to aid in hunting the Road Runner; these products always backfire disastrously) as the occasion for "irrepressible laughter in the reader." The piece served as the basis for the unreleased film Coyote vs. Acme, which is set to be claimed as a tax write-off by Warner Bros. Discovery. Gorman rates Frazier's first collection, 1986's Dating Your Mom, as "one of the best collections of humor ever published."^[7]

Awards

1989 Whiting Award
1997 Thurber Prize for American Humor, for essay collection Coyote vs. Acme^[2]
2009 Thurber Prize for American Humor, for essay collection Lamentations of the Father^[2]^[8]

Bibliography

References

^ "Contributors: Ian Frazier". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on December 7, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Humorist Ian Frazier, who grew up in Hudson, Ohio, wins another Thurber award". October 6, 2009. The Plain Dealer. Retrieved via Cleveland.com, November 10, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Ian Frazier." Contemporary Authors Online. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2017. Retrieved via Biography In Context database, November 10, 2018.
^ Lambert, Craig (September/October 2008). "Seriously Funny: Ian Frazier combines an historian's discipline with an original comic mind". Harvard Magazine. harvardmagazine.com. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
^ Ian Frazier, Family. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1994. p. 256.
^ Ian Frazier, Family. p. 26.
^ James Gorman, "Beep-Beep!", The New York Times, June 23, 1996.
^ Hartig, Jean (2010). "Thurber House." Poets & Writers Magazine. Vol. 38, no. 2. p. 133 f. Retrieved via Literature Resource Center database, November 10, 2018.

External links

Works by or about Ian Frazier at Internet Archive
Ian Frazier articles for Outside Magazine
Ian Frazier articles at Byliner
Ian Frazier on NPR for Travels in SIberia
Ian Frazier at FSG
Profile at The Whiting Foundation
Appearances on C-SPAN
Interview with Ian Frazier on WFMU's "The Speakeasy with Dorian" (RealAudio)
Review of Gone to New York
Select the RealAudio link by "LAMENTATIONS OF A FATHER" at time 28:42 to hear Ian Frazier read his "Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father" on the January 24, 1998 Prairie Home Companion broadcast.
The famous mock-legal complaint Coyote v. Acme, to which a lawyer made this reply
Lambert, Craig (September–October 2008). "Seriously Funny: Ian Frazier combines an historian's discipline with an original comic mind". Harvard Magazine.