Thad Ziolkowski is the author of Our Son the Arson, a collection of poems, and a memoir, On a Wave, which was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 2003. In 2008, he was awarded a fellowship from the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum, Artforum, Travel & Leisure and Index. He directs the Writing Program at Pratt Institute. Wichita is his first novel.
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Thad Ziolkowski
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Wichita by Thad Ziolkowski. (Europa Editions; paper, $16.) A young graduate comes home to Kansas in Ziolkowski’s smart and devastating first novel.— May 25 2012![]()
Near the end of “Wichita,” Thad Ziolkowski’s first novel, the protagonist recalls a line from Rilke: “You are not surprised at the force of the storm — you have seen it growing.” It’s a passing reference; the character, Lewis, neither dwells on the line nor...— May 18 2012![]()
from Oprah.com In Thad Ziolkowski's aptly named first novel, Wichita, Lewis Chopik, a recent graduate from Columbia University, leaves New York City for his hometown of Wichita, Kansas. He's escaping the pain from a recent breakup with his girlfriend, Victoria,...— May 11 2012![]()
Guggenheim fellow Ziolkowski’s first serious jump from poetry to fiction tells the story of Lewis, a recent graduate returning from the Ivy League to his hometown of Wichita, Kans. An offhand, remote tone mirrors his aimless detachment after he deliberately turns his back...— May 11 2012![]()
Thad Ziolkowski is blond, lean, and I imagine he writes with a surfboard not far from his desk in his New York apartment. In 2003, Ziolkowskireleased On a Wave, a memoir documenting the return to his firstlove—surfing—years after abandoning the sport of his early...— May 11 2012![]()
from New York Times Magazine When I was 8, my parents divorced and my mother married a man whose career took us from Washington to Melbourne Beach, a town on the “Space Coast” of Central Florida, where I learned to surf. The ocean proved...— May 2 2012
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