Brian Washington is an American writer. He is the author of only two books but has an impressive number of awards and achievements.
Brian Washington was born in Kentucky and moved to Texas when he was three years old. He attended James E. Taylor High School. He had long concealed that he was gay to avoid persecution.
Washington holds a BA in English from the University of Houston and an MFA from the University of New Orleans.
His fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Vulture, The Paris Review, The Best American Short Stories, and The Cut, among many others.
Washington debuted with the series of interconnected short stories Lot (2019) set in Houston. He vividly portrayed the inner lives of his marginalized fellow citizens, often overlooked in literature as characters sketched to evoke pity and despair. These are tough yet tender accounts of uncertain lives haunted by the certainty of future violence and the shadow of homelessness.
Next year, Bryan Washington presented his debut novel, Memorial. The book has received critical acclaim and was named a New York Times Notable Book. A24 announced it had purchased the rights to adapt the novel for television.
For these two works, Bryan Washington has won the National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 award and received recognition from the New York Public Library as a Young Lions Award recipient. Additionally, he has been honored with the Ernest J. Gaines Award, the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Lambda Literary Award.
Furthermore, Washington has been a finalist for prestigious literary awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award, the James Tait Black Prize, and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize.
He has also been recognized as a PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize finalist and a National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize finalist.
His literary prowess has earned him the coveted O. Henry Award. Finally, Forbes has featured Washington on their 30 Under 30 list.
Bryan Washington contributes as a columnist for the New York Times Magazine.
His third book, Family Meal, will come in 2023. The novel is about two young men, once best friends, whose lives collide again after a loss.
Bryan Washington lives in Houston.
Photo credit: brywashing.com
