David Grann

David Elliot Grann (born March 10, 1967) is an American journalist, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and author.

David Grann
Grann at the 2023 National Book Festival
Grann at the 2023 National Book Festival
Born (1967-03-10) March 10, 1967
OccupationStaff writer, book author, journalist
Alma materConnecticut College (BA)
Tufts University (MA)
Boston University (MA)
Notable worksThe Lost City of Z
The Devil and Sherlock Holmes
Killers of the Flower Moon
The White Darkness
The Wager
Notable awardsThomas J. Watson Fellowship
George Polk Awards
Spouse
Kyra Darnton
​
(m. 2000)​
Children2
Website
davidgrann.com

His first book, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, was published by Doubleday in February 2009. After its first week of publication, it debuted on The New York Times bestseller list at #4[1] and later reached #1.[2] Grann's articles have been collected in several anthologies, including What We Saw: The Events of September 11, 2001, The Best American Crime Writing of 2004 and 2005, and The Best American Sports Writing of 2003 and 2006.[3] He has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Weekly Standard.[3]

According to a profile in Slate, Grann has a reputation as a "workhorse reporter", which has made him a popular journalist who "inspires a devotion in readers that can border on the obsessive."[4]

Early life

Grann was born on March 18, 1967, to Phyllis E. Grann and Victor Grann. His mother is the former CEO of Putnam Penguin and the first woman CEO of a major publishing firm.[5] His father is an oncologist and Director of the Bennett Cancer Center in Stamford, Connecticut. Grann has two siblings, Edward and Alison.[6]

Career

He graduated from Connecticut College in 1989 with a B.A. in Government.[7] While still in college, Grann received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and conducted research in Mexico, where he began his career as a freelance journalist.[7]

He received a master's degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1993.[3][8] At that point primarily interested in fiction, Grann hoped to develop a career as a novelist.[9]

In 1994 he was hired as a copy editor at The Hill, a Washington, D.C.-based newspaper covering the United States Congress.[3] The same year, Grann earned a master's degree in creative writing from Boston University,[3][8] where he taught courses in creative writing and fiction.[9] He was named The Hill's executive editor in 1995.[3][7] In 1996, Grann became a senior editor at The New Republic.[3][8] He joined The New Yorker in 2003 as a staff writer.[3][7] He was a finalist for the Michael Kelly Award in 2005.[10]

In 2009, he received both the George Polk Award and Sigma Delta Chi Award for his New Yorker piece "Trial By Fire", about Cameron Todd Willingham. Another New Yorker investigative article, "The Mark of a Masterpiece", raised questions about the methods of Peter Paul Biro, who claimed to use fingerprints to help authenticate lost masterpieces.[11] Biro sued Grann and The New Yorker for libel,[12][13] but the case was summarily dismissed.[14][15] The article was a finalist for the 2010 National Magazine Award.[16]

The Lost City of Z

Grann's 2009 non-fiction book The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon recounts the odyssey of the notable British explorer, Captain Percy Fawcett who, in 1925, disappeared with his son in the Amazon while looking for the Lost City of Z. For decades, explorers and scientists have tried to find evidence of both his party and the Lost City of Z. Grann also trekked into the Amazon. In his book, he reveals new evidence about how Fawcett died and shows that "Z" may have existed.[17][18][19]

Killers of the Flower Moon

In March 2014, Grann said he was working on a new book about the Osage Indian murders, considered "one of the most sinister crimes in American history."[20] His book Killers of the Flower Moon: An American Crime and the Birth of the FBI was published in 2017, chronicling "a tale of murder, betrayal, heroism and a nation's struggle to leave its frontier culture behind and enter the modern world."[21] It was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award[22] and later became #1 on The New York Times bestseller list.[23]

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

Grann's latest book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, was published in April 2023. It debuted at #1 on The New York Times bestseller list and stayed on the list for 26 weeks. [24] A reviewer in The Guardian wrote, “The Wager is one of the finest nonfiction books I've ever read. I can only offer the highest praise a writer can give: endless envy, as deep and salty as the sea." [25]

Other books

An anthology of twelve previously published Grann essays, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, was published in March 2010.

Another book, The White Darkness , was published in October, 2018.

Personal life

Grann has two children. As of 2017 he resided in New York.[26]

Bibliography

Articles

Collections:

Uncollected articles:

Others

Film adaptations
Dark Crimes (2016)

Based on his 2008 article in The New Yorker titled "True Crime: A Postmodern Murder Mystery" and starring Jim Carrey.

The Lost City of Z (2017)

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon was the first book by Grann to be adapted into a film, optioned in 2008 by Brad Pitt's Plan B production company and Paramount Pictures.[27] The film was released in 2017, directed by James Gray and starred Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, and Tom Holland.[28][29][30][31]

The Old Man & the Gun (2018)

Grann's second film adaptation featured a script loosely based on Grann's 2003 article of the same name in The New Yorker (later collected in his 2010 book The Devil and Sherlock Holmes). Written and directed by David Lowery, the film stars Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, Danny Glover, Tika Sumpter, Tom Waits and Sissy Spacek. It was released in 2018.[32]

Trial by Fire (2018)

Based on Grann's 2009 article of the same name in The New Yorker. Adapted by Geoffrey S. Fletcher and directed by Edward Zwick, the film stars Jack O'Connell, Laura Dern, Emily Meade. It premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2018 and was released on May 17, 2019, by Roadside Attractions.[33]

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

The book was acquired for film adaptation by director Martin Scorsese in 2017.[34] Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, and Lily Gladstone,[35] the film is set to be released theatrically by Paramount Pictures and stream on Apple TV+ in 2023.[36][37]

The White Darkness (forthcoming)

Apple TV+ announced in April 2022 that Grann's book The White Darkness would be developed into a new limited series starring Tom Hiddleston. The series will be developed by Soo Hugh and co-produced by Apple Studios and UCP.[38]

The Wager (forthcoming)

In July 2022, Scorsese and DiCaprio also acquired the rights to Grann's 2023 non-fiction book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.[39]

Awards

References
  1. "Hardcover Non-fiction Bestsellers". The New York Times. March 6, 2009. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  2. "Paperback Non-fiction Bestsellers". The New York Times. February 21, 2010. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
  3. Potts, Rolf and Grann, David. "David Grann", RolfPotts.com (March 2009). Accessed May 26, 2009.
  4. Jonah Weiner (April 11, 2011). "The Storyteller's Storyteller". Slate. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  5. Maneker, Marion (January 1, 2001). "Now for the Grann Finale". New York Magazine. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  6. Maneker, Marion (January 1, 2002). "Now for the Grann Finale". New York Magazine. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  7. "Contributors: David Grann." The New Yorker. No date. Accessed May 26, 2009.
  8. "Weddings; Kyra Darnton, David Grann". The New York Times. July 2, 2000. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  9. "David Grann on murder, madness and writing for The New Yorker" by Andrea Pitzer, Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, April 5, 2010
  10. Press release: The 2005 Michael Kelly Award, June 6, 2005 Archived July 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  11. Charney, Noah (September 16, 2011). "Interview on Art Security Technology". The Secret History of Art. Artinfo International Edition. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012.
  12. "Art Analyst Sues The New Yorker" by Julia Filip, Courthouse News Service (July 1, 2011) Archived July 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  13. "Forensic Art Expert Sues New Yorker – Author Wants $2 million for defamation over David Grann piece" by Dylan Byers, Adweek, June 30, 2011
  14. 11 Civ. 4442 (JPO) Peter Paul Biro v. ... David Grann ... Archived February 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, United States District Court – Southern District of New York
  15. "Art Authenticator Loses Defamation Suit Against the New Yorker Archived January 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, by Albert Samaha, Village Voice blog, August 5, 2013
  16. "Check Out ASME's National Magazine Awards Finalists" by Caroline Stanley, FlavorWire.com, 5 April 2011
  17. Heckenberger, Michael. The Ecology of Power: Culture, Place, and Personhood in the Southern Amazon, A.D. 1000–2000. New York: Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0-415-94598-4;
  18. Heckenberger, Michael J.; Kuikuro, Afukaka; Kuikuro, Urissapá Tabata; Russell, J. Christian; Schmidt, Morgan; Fausto, Carlos; and Franchetto, Bruna. "Amazonia 1492: Pristine Forest or Cultural Parkland?" Science. April 25, 2003
  19. Heckenberger, Michael J. "Manioc Agriculture and Sedentism in Amazonia: The Upper Xingu Example." Antiquity. September 1998.
  20. "I am David Grann". Reddit. March 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014. And right now I'm working on a new book about a historical mystery. It's about the Osage Indians in Oklahoma. In the 1920s they became the richest people in the world after oil was discovered under their reservation. Then they began to be mysteriously murdered off — poisoned, shot, bombed — in one of the most sinister crimes in American history.
  21. Sean Woods, "'Killers of the Flower Moon': Inside David Grann's New True-Crime Epic," Rolling Stone, April 17, 2017.
  22. "Nationalbook.org" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  23. "Books Best Sellers: Combined Print and E-Book Nonfiction". New York Times. April 22, 2018.
  24. New York Times. October 29, 2023 https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/hardcover-nonfiction/. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  25. https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/29/the-wager-review-david-grann-shipwreck-epic. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)|title=The Wager Review
  26. Donohue, Keith (Fall 2017). "David Grann: Killers of the Flower Moon". Prologue Magazine. Vol. 49, no. 3.
  27. Siegel, Tatiana. "Paramount, Brad Pitt Find 'Lost City'," Variety (March 31, 2008).
  28. Davis, Edward (December 27, 2014). "Sienna Miller joins James Gray's 'Lost City Of Z'; shooting may happen Summer 2015". IndieWire. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  29. Fleming, Michael (December 9, 2009). "James Gray, Brad Pitt find lost city". Variety. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  30. Nordine, Michael (September 1, 2016). "Amazon Studios acquires James Gray's rainforest drama 'The Lost City of Z' starring Charlie Hunnam". IndieWire. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  31. Chang, Justin. "James Gray's hauntingly beautiful 'The Lost City of Z' is Charlie Hunnam's finest performance," Los Angeles Times (April 13, 2017).
  32. Murthi, Vikram (November 11, 2016). "Robert Redford Announces Retirement From Acting". IndieWire. Los Angeles, California: Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  33. McClintock, Pamela (February 25, 2019). "Edward Zwick's 'Trial by Fire' Lands Early Summer Release Date From Roadside". The Hollywood Reporter.
  34. "Everything We Know About Martin Scorsese And Leonardo DiCaprio's Next Project, 'Killers Of The Flower Moon'". Esquire. July 17, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  35. World, Michael Smith Tulsa. "What we know so far about the 'Killers of the Flower Moon' movie set in Oklahoma". Tulsa World. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  36. Clayton Davis (July 26, 2022). "Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Killers of the Flower Moon' to Release in 2023". Variety. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  37. Fleming, Mike Jr. (May 27, 2020). "Apple Partners With Paramount on Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Killers of the Flower Moon'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  38. "Tom Hiddleston to star in and executive produce new Apple Original limited series "The White Darkness"". Apple. April 7, 2022. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  39. Borys Kit (July 29, 2022). "Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese Tackling Naval Survival Tale 'The Wager' for Apple, Imperative (Exclusive)". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  40. "The New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers Announces 2013-2014 Fellows: David Grann, Téa Obreht, Anthony Grafton, Uwem Akpan among 2013-14 Cullman Center Fellows," New York Public Library (March 25, 2013).
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