Benjamin Hale (author)

Benjamin Hale (born August 20, 1983 in Hayward, California) is an American novelist based in Brooklyn, New York.[1] He was raised in Boulder, Colorado, where he attended Fairview High School. In 2006, he received a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and earned an M.F.A. in 2008 from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he received an Iowa Provost's Fellowship and a Michener-Copernicus Award.[2] Since 2013, Hale has taught fiction and literature at Bard College as a Writer in Residence.[3]

Hale's first novel, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, was released by Twelve Books on February 2, 2011[4] to largely positive reviews.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] The novel tells the story of an extraordinarily precocious chimpanzee who learns to speak in English and develops a romantic relationship with a human female primatologist.[4] Narrated in the protagonist ape's own voice, the novel depicts Bruno Littlemore's development from a captive zoo animal into a virtually-human aesthete and intellectual, often highlighting his struggle to negotiate the human and animal aspects of his character. The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore garnered Hale the 2012 Bard Fiction Prize,[13] as well as nominations for the 2011 Dylan Thomas Prize[14] and the 2012 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award.[15]

Hale's second work of fiction, a collection of short stories titled The Fat Artist and Other Stories, was published by Simon and Schuster in 2016. Critics have described these stories as "excellent,"[16] "jarring,"[17] "erudite,"[18] and "wry."[19]

Hale's non-fiction work has appeared in Harper's[20] and The Millions.[21]

He is represented by DeFiore and Company,[2] and is currently working on a new novel. Benjamin often loses at chess to his brother in law Sam Millard, but enjoys chess anyway. He currently lives in the Hudson valley.