Ben Shattuck

Shattuck was born and raised in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.[3][4] His parents both work in the arts in Massachusetts;[5] his mother owns an art gallery, while his father is a painter.[6] Shattuck attended Deerfield Academy for high school, Cornell University for college, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop for his Master's of Fine Arts in fiction.[7][8] He taught fiction writing while at the University of Iowa as a graduate teaching assistant, and then at Victoria University of Wellington.

Shattuck's first book, Six Walks, was published in 2022. The memoir tracks the author's retracing of six walks taken by Henry David Thoreau, which brings about personal memories and emotional insights.[9][10] It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.[11]

In 2021, Shattuck and his brother bought the general store in their hometown, Davolls General Store, which was originally built in 1793.[12][13]

His first published short story, "Edwin Chase of Nantucket" was published in 2016. Shattuck's short stories and essays have been published in a number of magazines.

His 2018 story "The History of Sound" from The Common[14] was published in the Pushcart Prize anthology.[15] As of 2021, the story was being adapted to film and distributed through End Cue, Embankment Films, and Film4.[16][17] In 2021, Oliver Hermanus said of his decision to adapt the story and direct the film: "I instantly fell in love with Ben Shattuck's flawlessly beautiful short story and knew I had to be involved in its journey to the screen."[18] When the casting was revealed as two romantic leads played by Emmy winner Josh O'Connor and BAFTA winner Paul Mescal, there was controversy about whether two straight actors should play gay characters.[19][20][21]

His second book, a short story collection with the same title, The History of Sound, is set in New England across multiple centuries and will be published with an imprint of Viking Press.

In 2019, Shattuck lived with girlfriend Jenny Slate in Massachusetts, where she was also born and raised.[22] They got engaged after Shattuck proposed during a picnic at a French castle later that year.[23][24] Their daughter was born in late 2020.[25][26][27] Their wedding was postponed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[28][29] and they married in their living room on December 31, 2021.[30]