Who

Auster, the elder statesman of the Brooklyn literary scene, is the author of a dozen novels including The New York Trilogy.

Backstory

After growing up in New Jersey, Auster graduated from Columbia in 1970 and then spent a lengthy apprenticeship toiling in obscurity, including three lean years in Paris. He finally made his reputation with 1987's The New York Trilogy, a series of postmodern takes on the detective/mystery genre. He's gone on to publish another 11 novels, including 1992's Leviathan and 2007's Travels in the Scriptorium, as well as several books of poetry and essays.

Of note

Auster's characters are typically buffeted by the vagaries of chance and coincidence, in narratives haunted by his own identity: The anagrammatical writer in Oracle Night (2004), John Trause, pops up again in Auster's latest, 2007's Travels in the Scriptorium. In City of Glass, the first volume of The New York Trilogy, "Paul Auster" is the name assumed by the narrator, Paul Quinn, who has a wife named Siri–just as the real Paul is married to the novelist Siri Hustvedt. Auster has also done work on the big screen over the years: He adapted the script for the film Smoke and directed the same cast in Blue in the Face. Other Auster-directed movies include Lulu on the Bridge with Harvey Keitel and Mira Sorvino, and The Inner Life of Martin Frost, starring his daughter with Husvedt, Sophie. Auster is also one of the lyricists for Brooklyn "Lit Band" One Ring Zero along with writer pals including Rick Moody, Jonathan Lethem, Dave Eggers, and A.M. Homes. Sophie Auster provides the voice.

Personal

When he met his current wife Siri Hustvedt in 1981, Auster had been separated from his first wife, the writer Lydia Davis, for several years. He and Davis have an adult son, Daniel, who was briefly notorious in the '90s as one of the inner circle of New York "club kids" presided over by Michael Alig, the party promoter jailed for the manslaughter of his friend and dealer Angel Melendez. Auster, Hustvedt and Sophie—who's taking time out from Sarah Lawrence to act—live in a Park Slope brownstone.