Madison Smartt Bell (
August 1,
1957) was born and raised in Tennessee, he has lived in New York, London and now lives in
Baltimore, Maryland. A graduate of
Princeton University (A.B 1979) and
Hollins University[?] (M.A. 1981), he has taught in various creative writing programs, including the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the 92nd Street Y, and the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars and his students have included
Carolyn Chute[?] and
Darcey Steinke[?].
His eighth novel, All Soul's Rising[?], was a finalist for the 1995 National Book Award and the 1996 PEN/Faulkner Award and winner of the 1996 Anisfield-Wolf award for the best book of the year dealing with matters of race. In addition he has written essays and reviews for Harper's[?], The New York Times Book Review[?], The Village Voice[?], and many other publications.
- The Washington Square Ensemble (novel) (Viking Press, 1983) (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1984)
- Waiting For The End Of The World (novel) (Ticknor & Fields, 1985) (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1986)
- Straight Cut (novel) (Ticknor & Fields, 1986) (Penguin mass-market paperback, 1987)
- Zero db (short fiction) (Ticknor & Fields, 1987) (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1988)
- The Year Of Silence (novel) (Ticknor & Fields, 1987) (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1989)
- Soldier's Joy (novel) (Ticknor & Fields, 1989) (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1990)
- Barking Man (short fiction) (Ticknor & Fields, 1990) (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1991) (Quality Paperback Club, 1991)
- Doctor Sleep (novel) (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991) (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1992)
- Save Me, Joe Louis (novel) (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993) (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1994)
- All Souls' Rising (novel) (Pantheon, 1995) (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1996)
- Ten Indians (novel) (Pantheon, 1996) (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1997)
- Narrative Design: A Writer's Guide to Structure (textbook) (W.W. Norton, 1997)
- Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form (trade paperback edition) (Norton, 2000)