Michael Dirda (born 1948) is an American book critic, working for the Washington Post. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993.
Michael Dirda | |
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Born | 1948 (age 75–76) |
Education | Oberlin College (BA) Cornell University (MA, PhD) |
Occupation | Book critic for the Washington Post |
Having studied at Oberlin College for his undergraduate degree in 1970, Dirda took an M.A. in 1974 and PhD in 1977 from Cornell University in comparative literature. In 1978 Dirda started writing for the Washington Post; in 1993 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his criticism.[1] Currently, he is a book columnist for the Post.[2]
In 2002, Dirda was invested as a member of The Baker Street Irregulars.[3]
Two collections of Dirda's literary journalism have been published:[4]
He has also written:
On Conan Doyle was awarded the 2012 Edgar Award in the Best Critical/Biographical category.[5] (Reviewer Darrell Schweitzer lauds the book in The New York Review of Science Fiction.[6])
Dirda lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife, Marian Peck Dirda, a prints and drawings conservator at the National Gallery of Art. They have three sons: Christopher (b. 1984), Michael (b. 1987), and Nathaniel (b. 1990).[7]