Born in 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana,
Kurt Vonnegut was one of the few grandmasters of modern American letters. Called by the
New York Times "the counterculture's novelist," his works guided a generation through the miasma of war and greed that was life in the
U.S. in second half of the 20th century. After a stints as a soldier, anthropology PhD candidate, technical writer for General Electric, and salesman at a Saab dealership, Vonnegut rose to prominence with the publication of
Cat's Cradle in 1963. Several modern classics, including
Slaughterhouse-Five, soon followed. Never quite embraced by the stodgier arbiters of literary taste, Vonnegut was nonetheless beloved by millions of readers throughout the world. "Given who and what I am," he once said, "it has been presumptuous of me to write so well." Kurt Vonnegut died in New York in 2007. A longtime friend of Kurt Vonnegut's,
DAN WAKEFIELD is co-editor with Jerome Klinkowitz of Vonnegut's
Complete Stories, which the
New York Times called "a fascinating portrait-of-the-artist-on-the-make in the booming 1950s." Wakefield also edited and introduced
Kurt Vonnegut: Letters. He is the author of the memoirs
New York in the Fifties and
Returning: A Spiritual Journey. His novel
Going All the Way was made into a movie starring Ben Affleck. Dan Wakefield also created the NBC prime time series
James at Fifteen. He is currently at work on a YA biography of Kurt Vonnegut for Seven Stories. He lives in Indianapolis, Indiana
.
