Jason Brown (writer)

This article is about the American writer. For others with similar names, see Jason Brown (disambiguation).
Jason Brown
OccupationWriter, teacher
NationalityAmerican
EducationCornell University (MFA)
GenreFiction
Notable worksDriving the Heart (1999)
Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work (2007)
A Faithful But Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed (2019)
"Outermark" (2024)
"Character Witness" (2025)
Website
www.writerjasonbrooksbrown.com

Jason Brown [1] is an American fiction and nonfiction writer who writes primarily about Maine and New England. His work has appeared in magazines and anthologies including The New Yorker , Harper's , The Atlantic ,The Best American Short Stories , The Best American Essays , and The Pushcart Prize Anthology.

Early life and education

Brown grew up in Maine.[1][2][3] He earned an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University[4] and received a Stegner Fellowship to study creative writing at Stanford University.[1][4]

Career

Driving the Heart

After its initial publication in the Mississippi Review, his story "Driving the Heart" was selected for The Best American Short Stories 1996.[5] The story later appeared in the 2012 collection Boston Noir 2: The Classics.[6]

In 1999, Brown's debut collection was published. The New York Times described Driving the Heart and Other Stories as "bleak yet penetrating," adding that "each of Brown's elegant stories echoes with the same quiet despair."[7] The 13 stories are mostly set in and around Portland, Maine, involving characters affected by tragic experiences past and present.[7][8] Driving the Heart was a starred review in Publishers Weekly, where it was called an "extraordinary debut collection."[8]

Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work

Brown's second collection of 11 loosely linked short stories, Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work: Stories, came out in 2007.[9][10] The 11 stories set in the fictional town of Vaughn in central Maine are linked by geography and tone,[5][11][12] with "weary, complicated souls" of all ages.[13] With the changes in narrative point of view within some of the stories, Brown has said he was influenced by the narration in the films of Terrence Malick – Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line in particular.[1] Some of the stories were originally published in magazines including Harper's, Epoch, Open City and The Atlantic.[14] The book was given an A− by Entertainment Weekly,[15] and was a starred review in Publishers Weekly.[16] The Los Angeles Times called it "an exceptionally beautiful and devastating book."[11] It was a suggested summer reading by NPR in 2009.[17] The New Yorker said, "The narrators of Brown’s second book of stories are mostly watchers—witnesses to sordid events in the fictional town of Vaughn, Maine. Through their eyes, the familiar routines of small-town life are transmogrified into emblematic ugliness. Some of the stories deal with Maine’s twin preoccupations with boats and lumber, but the strongest anatomize the town with stunning emotional precision."

Three of Brown's stories were named among the Best American Short Stories series "100 Other Distinguished Stories" in 1997, 2005 and 2010.[18] His story "Wintering Over" was published in The Southern Review in 2012.

A Faithful But Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed

Brown's third collection of stories, a novel in stories, chronicles the comic misfortunes of the Howland family of Maine published in October 2019 as the first collection in a new short fiction series created by Missouri Review Books.

Creative Nonfiction

The Wrong Jason Brown The New Yorker [1]

Film

Rule Breakers, co-written with Bill Guttentag, theatrical release in March of 2025

Teaching

Brown previously taught creative writing at Stanford University as a Jones lecturer,[4] and at the University of Arizona's creative writing MFA program.[1] He is currently an associate professor at the University of Oregon's creative writing MFA program.[19]

Honors and awards (selected)

  • Best American Essays, 2022, for "The Wrong Jason Brown"
  • Maine Literary Award for A Faithful But Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed
  • Best American Short Stories, 2020, for "A Faithful But Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed"
  • 2019 Pushcart Prize XLIV
  • NPR summer pick for Why the Devil Chose New England For His Work.
  • Best American Short Stories 1996 pick for "Driving the Heart"
  • Jeffrey E Smith Editor's Prize from the Missouri Review, 2017
  • Stegner Fellowship in Fiction, Stanford University, 1996-98[19]
  • MacDowell Colony Fellowship, 2002[19]
  • Corporation of Yaddo Fellowship, 2002[19]
  • Pushcart Prize special mention for "Why the Devil Chose New England For His Work", 2009[20]
  • Glenna Lusche Award for "Flood", 2009
  • Mississippi Review Fiction Prize for "Driving the Heart," 1995
  • Saltonstall Foundation Grant

Bibliography

Books

  • Driving the Heart and Other Stories (W. W. Norton & Company, 1999)
  • Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work: Stories (Open City/Grove Atlantic, 2007)
  • A Faithful But Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed: A Novel in Stories (Missouri Review Books, Oct, 2019)
  • Outermark: A Novel (Paul Dry Books/Ingram, 2024)
  • Character Witness: A Memoir (American Lives Series, Tobias Wolff editor, 2025)

Stories (selected)

Articles and Essays (selected)

  • "The Wrong Jason Brown," The New Yorker, 2021
  • "If I did not Protest, no one would" – Salon, August 2015
  • "Digital Literacy For Women and Girls in Afghanistan" – Salon , May 2015
  • "If I Teach Them, No One Can Stop Them" – Salon , February 2015
  • "One Girl Can Be Silenced, But A Nation Of Girls Telling Their Stories Becomes Free" – Salon , February 2015

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Michael Miller, “Exile on Maine Street,” Time Out New York, November 22, 2007.
  2. ^ Nina MacLaughlin, “Podcast: Jason Brown, author of Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” The Phoenix, July 17, 2008.
  3. ^ Ray Routhier, “Short stories swirl in a fictional town on the Kennebec,” Portland Press Herald, November 18, 2007.
  4. ^ a b c Yvonne Daley, “Success Stories,” Archived 2018-09-13 at the Wayback Machine Stanford Magazine, July/August 1999.
  5. ^ a b Greg Schutz, “Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work by Jason Brown,” Fiction Writers Review, September 19, 2008.
  6. ^ Gabino Iglesias, “Boston Noir 2: The Classics,” Verbicide, November 25, 2012.
  7. ^ a b Jennifer Berman, “Books,” The New York Times, May 2, 1999.
  8. ^ a b “Driving the Heart and Other Stories,” Publishers Weekly, April 1999.
  9. ^ “Briefly Noted,” The New Yorker, December 24 & 31, 2007, p. 149.
  10. ^ Carla Blumenkranz, “Jason Brown’s Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” Bookforum, Sept/Oct/Nov 2007.
  11. ^ a b Carolyn Kellog, “Down town,” Los Angeles Times, December 23, 2007.
  12. ^ Johnny Ray Huston, “Lit: Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, January 8, 2008.
  13. ^ Nina MacLaughlin, “A Review of Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” The Believer, May 2008.
  14. ^ “Short-story Writer Jason Brown Opens Visiting Writers Series,” oregonstate.edu, October 9, 2008.
  15. ^ Adam B. Vary, “Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” Entertainment Weekly, November 11, 2007.
  16. ^ “Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work,” Publishers Weekly, November 2007.
  17. ^ “Suggestions for Summer Reading,” NPR, May 29, 2009.
  18. ^ “Fiction Points: Jason Brown,” Points, November 7, 2013.
  19. ^ a b c d Jason Brown, Associate Professor, University of Oregon Creative Writing Program. Accessed November 19, 2014.
  20. ^ Epoch magazine Web page, Retrieved February 5, 2007 Archived December 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine