Shalom Auslander

Shalom Auslander was raised as an Orthodox Jew in Spring Valley, New York. Nominated for the Koret Award for writers under thirty-five, he has published stories and articles in Esquire, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine, as well as on nerve.com and nextbook.org. He is a regular contributor to the Public Radio International program This American Life. Auslander’s first book, the short story collection Beware of God, was published to critical acclaim in 2005.

Auslander is the author of a memoir, Foreskin’s Lament, in which he reveals a “painfully, cripplingly, incurably, miserably religious” youth in a strict, socially isolated Orthodox community, and recounts his rebellion and efforts to make a new life apart from it. His combination of unrelenting humor and anger renders a rich and fascinating portrait of a man grappling with his faith and family. Auslander’s first novel, Hope: A Tragedy, was a finalist for the 2013 Thurber Prize and won the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize. He is also the writer and creator of Showtime’s Happyish, a dark comedy starring Steve Coogan.

Auslander lives with his wife and children near Woodstock, New York.