2010 Presenters
Justin Cronin
Born and raised in New England, Justin Cronin is a graduate of Harvard University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is the author of The Summer Guest and Mary and O’Neil, winner of the 2002 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award and the Stephen Crane Prize.
His latest book, a post-apocalyptic vampire epic entitled The Passage, the first installment of a promised trilogy, came about when Cronin played a game with his daughter in 2006 where they decided to plot out a novel together. Cronin’s daughter said she wanted a book about “a girl who saves the world.”
Ron Charles of the Washington Post said of the book, “By the third chapter, trash was piling up in our house because I was too scared to take out the garbage at night. It’s a macabre pleasure to see what a really talented novelist can do with these old Transylvanian tropes.”
A New York Times bestseller, The Passage has received starred reviews from both Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly, and has been called by Men’s Journal “Addictive, terrifying, and deeply satisfying. Not only is this one of the year's best thrillers; it's one of the best of the past decade - maybe one of the best ever."
LINKS:
Official web site for The Passage
Interview with Cronin on "The Vampire Narrative"
Cronin answers readers' questions about The Passage
Article on the inspiration behind Cronin's novel, The Passage
Review of The Passage in the Los Angeles Times
