Author David Vann
© Copyright 2005-10 David Vann
Buy from Amazon.com
Read the first chapter, in the
New York Times online

Sukkwan Island wins Le Prix des Lecteurs de L'Express (national book prize in France)
and Le Prix des Lecteurs de la Maison du Livre de Rodez (local book prize in France)

The Times Book Club (UK) chooses Legend of a Suicide, June 2010

Lorrie Moore chooses
Legend of a Suicide for The New Yorker Book Club, April 2010

Chris Meloni from Law & Order SVU options Legend of a Suicide

Legend of a Suicide and Caribou Island (a new novel Jan 2011) both in 9 languages, 50 countries

Legend of a Suicide on 25 "Best Books of the Year" lists, including New York Times and Times Literary Supplement

Winner of the Grace Paley Prize, a California Book Award, and the AWP Nonfiction Prize

Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Award and the Story Prize

Sukkwan Island a National Bestseller in France for 5 months in 2010

A Mile Down a National Bestseller (LA Times and Washington Post)

Last Day On Earth: A Portrait of the NIU School Shooter, Steve Kazmierczak, coming out fall 2011

Features, essays, and stories in 15 million copies of magazines

Documentaries with
NOVA, BBC, CNN, and E! Entertainment



A truly great writer. -The Irish Sunday Independent

One of the best writers of his generation. -Le Figaro

His legend is at once the truest memoir and the purest fiction...Nothing quite like this book has been written before. -
Alex Linklater, The Observer

The great American novel we've awaited.  -Le Point

From the shores of Vann’s Alaska one can see the Russia of Turgenev’s
Fathers and Sons… “A father, after all,” Vann
writes, “is a lot for a thing to be.”  A son is also a lot for a thing to be; so is an artist.  With
Legend of a Suicide David
Vann proves himself a fine example of both. -Tom Bissell, The New York Times

A masterpiece. -France Inter

A new great American novelist.  -France Info

Brilliant . . . Vann’s prose follows the sinews of Cormac McCarthy and Hemingway, yet has its own nimble flex.
-The Times
An American classic.
-The Sunday Times
Email David
2010 Tour Dates
(including 9 international festivals)
David Vann’s work has appeared in The Sunday Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The Observer, Elle UK, The Telegraph, Men's Journal, Outside,
Outside's GO, Men's Health, National Geographic Adventure, Writer's Digest,
and other magazines and won various prizes and awards.  A former
National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, Wallace Stegner Fellow, and John L'Heureux Fellow, he's taught at Stanford, Cornell, SF State, FSU, and is
currently an Associate Professor at the University of San Francisco. He was born on Adak Island, Alaska and lives in the SF Bay Area with his wife
Nancy.  He recently found out he's part Cherokee, related to the Cherokee Chief David Vann.
Interviews (print, TV, and radio)