Michael Cunningham was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in La Caņada, California. He received his B.A. in English literature from Stanford University and his M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Iowa. His novel A Home at the End of the World was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1990 to wide acclaim. A film version was directed by Michael Mayer, and featured Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts and Sissy Spacek.
Flesh and Blood (FSG), another novel, followed in 1995 and is currently being adapted into a miniseries for Showtime.
In 1999 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel The Hours (FSG). A film adaptation of The Hours was directed by Stephen Daldry, and featured Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, and Meryl Streep.
In June 2005, his latest novel, Specimen Days, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It is now available as a Picador paperback.
He has written one nonfiction book, Land's End: A Walk Through Provincetown (Crown, 2002).
His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Paris Review. "White Angel," a short story, was chosen for The Best American Short Stories, 1989, and another story, "Mister Brother," appeared in the 2000 O. Henry Collection.
Michael Cunningham is the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award (1995), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1993), a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1988), and a Michener Fellowship from the University of Iowa (1982).
He lives in New York City.
