Raised in Cleveland, Ohio,^[1] Doerr attended the nearby University School, graduating in 1991. He then majored in history at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, graduating in 1995. He earned an MFA from Bowling Green State University.^[2]

Doerr's first book was a collection of short stories called The Shell Collector (2002). Many of the stories take place in countries within Africa and New Zealand, where he has worked and lived. His first novel, About Grace, was released in 2004. His memoir, Four Seasons in Rome, was published in 2007, and his second collection of short stories, Memory Wall, was published in 2010.

Doerr's second novel, All the Light We Cannot See, is set in occupied France during World War II and was published in 2014. It received significant critical acclaim and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction.^[3] The book was a New York Times bestseller, and was named by the newspaper as a notable book of 2014.^[4] It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2015. It was runner-up for the 2015 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction ^[5] and won the 2015 Ohioana Library Association Book Award for Fiction.^[6]

Doerr writes a column on science books for The Boston Globe and is a contributor to The Morning News, an online magazine.

From 2007 to 2010, he was the Writer in Residence for the state of Idaho.^[7][8]

Doerr's third novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land, follows three story lines, scattered throughout time: 13-year-old Anna and Omeir, an orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy, on opposite sides of formidable city walls during the 1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour and octogenarian Zeno in an attack on a public library in present-day Idaho; and Konstance, decades from now, who turns to the oldest stories to guide her community in peril.^[9] Cloud Cuckoo Land was released September 28, 2021. It was shortlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction.^[10]

Doerr is married, has twin sons, and lives in Boise, Idaho.^[11]

Novels edit

• About Grace (2004) ISBN 978-0-7432-6182-1
• All the Light We Cannot See (2014) ISBN 1476746583
• Cloud Cuckoo Land (2021) ISBN 978-1-982168-43-8

Short fiction edit

Collections

• The Shell Collector (2002) ISBN 1439190054
• Memory Wall (2010) ISBN 978-1-4391-8280-2

Anthologies edited

• The Best American Short Stories 2019 (Editor) ISBN 978-1-3284-6582-5

Memoirs edit

• Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World (2007) ISBN 978-1-4165-4001-4

Essays and reporting edit

• Doerr, Anthony (2010). "Two nights". Fugue. 38 (Winter–Spring 2010): 45–54.
• — (2013). "Two nights". In Henderson, Bill (ed.). The Pushcart Prize XXXVII : best of the small presses 2013. Pushcart Press. pp. 208–216.

Critical studies and reviews of Doerr's work edit

Cloud cuckoo land

• Wood, James (October 4, 2021). "Connect the dots : everything must converge in Anthony Doerr's 'Cloud cuckoo land'". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 97 (31): 69–72.^[a]

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Notes

• 2002: Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, for The Shell Collector
• 2002: O. Henry Prize for "The Hunter's Wife" (Short story)
• 2003: New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, winner, The Shell Collector
• 2003: O. Henry Prize for "The Shell Collector" (Short story)
• 2005: Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy in Rome
• 2005, 2011: Ohioana Book Award for About Grace and Memory Wall, respectively
• 2008: O. Henry Prize for "Village 113" (Short story)
• 2010: Guggenheim Fellowship
• 2011: The Story Prize, winner, Memory Wall
• 2011: Sunday Times Story Award, winner, "The Deep"^[12][13]
• 2012: O. Henry Prize for "The Deep" (Short story)
• 2014: finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction
• 2015: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for All the Light We Cannot See
• 2021: O. Henry Prize for "The Master’s Castle" (Short story)

• Official website
• Video: The Story Prize reading with Yiyun Li and Suzanne Rivecca. March 2, 2011.