Alice McDermott is an accomplished American novelist and Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 27, 1953, and attended St. Boniface School in Elmont, Long Island, NY, Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead, NY, the State University of New York at Oswego, where she received her BA in 1975, and the University of New Hampshire, where she obtained her MA in 1978.
McDermott has had a successful teaching career, having taught at various institutions such as the American University, UCSD, Hollins College, Lynchburg College, and the University of New Hampshire. She has also been a writer-in-residence at Hollins College and Lynchburg College in Virginia. Her short stories have been featured in several prestigious literary magazines, including Ms., Redbook, Mademoiselle, and Seventeen.
As a writer, McDermott has achieved significant recognition for her work. In 1987, she received the Whiting Writers Award, and she has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction on three separate occasions. Her novel Charming Billy, published in 1998, won her several awards, including the National Book Award for Fiction and the American Book Award. McDermott is currently the Richard A. Macksey Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University, where she continues to inspire and educate future generations of writers and scholars.
Standalone Novels
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
A Bigamist's Daughter
1982
2
That Night
1987
3
At Weddings and Wakes
1992
4
Charming Billy
1998
5
Child Of My Heart
2002
6
After This
2006
7
Someone
2013
8
The Ninth Hour
2017
9
Absolution
2023
Collections
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
What About the Baby?
2021
Mondo Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Mondo Barbie
1993
2
Mondo Barbie (With: John Varley, Lynne Barrett, Julia Alvarez, Philip Levine, A.M. Homes, David Trinidad, Sandra Cisneros, Marge Piercy, Gary Soto, Roberta Allen, Hilary Tham, Lyn Lifshin, Rebecca Brown, Denise Duhamel, Lucinda Ebersole, Richard Peabody, Jeanne Beaumont, Lynne McMahon, Kathryn Harrison, Patricia Storace, Richard Grayson, Leslie Shiel, Laura Costas, Sharon Henry, Cookie Lupton, Lisa B. Herskovits, Belinda Subraman, Ellie Schoenfeld, Sparrow ., Gregg Shapiro, Cathryn Hankla, Wayne E. Kline, Jose Padua, Jeff Weddle)
1993
3
Mondo Elvis (By: Howard Waldrop, Cornelius Eady, Mark Childress, Susie Mee, Nick Cave, Mark Winegardner, Rafael Alvarez, Greil Marcus, Pagan Kennedy, Lucinda Ebersole, Richard Peabody, Lynne McMahon, Cathryn Hankla, Samuel Charters, Rachel Salazar, Eleanor Earle Crockett, Diane Wakoski, Judy Vernon, David Wojahn, William McCranor Henderson, Janice Eidus, Elizabeth Ash Vélez, Laura Kalpakian, Eri Makino, Ai, Michael Wilkerson, Brian Gilmore)
1994
4
Mondo Elvis
1994
5
Mondo Marilyn
1995
6
Mondo Marilyn (By: J.G. Ballard, Michael Hemmingson, Clive Barker, Doris Grumbach, Beth Meacham, Lynne Tillman, Charles Bukowski, David Trinidad, Tom Whalen, Sharon Olds, Leslie Pietrzyk, Lyn Lifshin, Nanci Griffith, Robert Peters, Lucinda Ebersole, Richard Peabody, Jeanne Beaumont, Gregg Shapiro, Judy Grahn, Sam Toperoff, Julia P. Dubner, Bill Morris, John Rechy, L.A. Lantz, Phyllis Burke, Hillary Johnson, Rita Valencia, Michael Lally, Eleanor E. Crocket, Taylor Mead, Susan Compo, Rosanne Daryl Thomas)
1995
7
Mondo James Dean (By: Lewis Shiner, Jack C. Haldeman II, Bentley Little, Michael Hemmingson, Chuck Taylor, Michael Martone, Louisa Ermelino, Terence Winch, Lucinda Ebersole, Richard Peabody, Sparrow ., Janice Eidus, Ai, Tino Villanueva, Edwin Corley, Robert Ready, Reuben Jackson, Stephanie Hart, D.E. Steward, David Plumb, Ed Graczyk, Hilary Howard, James Finney Boylan, Miranda Schwartz)
1996
8
Mondo James Dean
1996
Mondo Books (with J.G. Ballard, with Howard Waldrop, with Lewis Shiner, with John Varley, with Jack C. Haldeman II, with Bentley Little, with Michael Hemmingson, with Lynne Barrett, with Clive Barker, with Doris Grumbach, with Julia Alvarez, with Cornelius Eady, with Beth Meacham, with Philip Levine, with Chuck Taylor, with Lynne Tillman, with Charles Bukowski, with Michael Martone, with A.M. Homes, with David Trinidad, with Sandra Cisneros, with Marge Piercy, with Gary Soto, with Tom Whalen, with Roberta Allen, with Sharon Olds, with Mark Childress, with Susie Mee, with Nick Cave, with Hilary Tham, with Leslie Pietrzyk, with Lyn Lifshin, with Nanci Griffith, with Mark Winegardner, with Louisa Ermelino, with Rafael Alvarez, with Greil Marcus, with Pagan Kennedy, with Terence Winch, with Rebecca Brown, with Denise Duhamel, with Robert Peters, with Lucinda Ebersole, with Richard Peabody, with Jeanne Beaumont, with Lynne McMahon, with Kathryn Harrison, with Patricia Storace, with Richard Grayson, with Leslie Shiel, with Laura Costas, with Sharon Henry, with Cookie Lupton, with Lisa B. Herskovits, with Belinda Subraman, with Ellie Schoenfeld, with Sparrow ., with Gregg Shapiro, with Cathryn Hankla, with Wayne E. Kline, with Jose Padua, with Jeff Weddle, with Judy Grahn, with Samuel Charters, with Rachel Salazar, with Eleanor Earle Crockett, with Diane Wakoski, with Judy Vernon, with David Wojahn, with William McCranor Henderson, with Janice Eidus, with Elizabeth Ash Vélez, with Laura Kalpakian, with Eri Makino, with Ai, with Michael Wilkerson, with Brian Gilmore, with Sam Toperoff, with Julia P. Dubner, with Bill Morris, with John Rechy, with L.A. Lantz, with Phyllis Burke, with Hillary Johnson, with Rita Valencia, with Michael Lally, with Eleanor E. Crocket, with Taylor Mead, with Susan Compo, with Rosanne Daryl Thomas, with Tino Villanueva, with Edwin Corley, with Robert Ready, with Reuben Jackson, with Stephanie Hart, with D.E. Steward, with David Plumb, with Ed Graczyk, with Hilary Howard, with James Finney Boylan, with Miranda Schwartz)
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Mondo Barbie (With: John Varley, Lynne Barrett, Julia Alvarez, Philip Levine, A.M. Homes, David Trinidad, Sandra Cisneros, Marge Piercy, Gary Soto, Roberta Allen, Hilary Tham, Lyn Lifshin, Rebecca Brown, Denise Duhamel, Lucinda Ebersole, Richard Peabody, Jeanne Beaumont, Lynne McMahon, Kathryn Harrison, Patricia Storace, Richard Grayson, Leslie Shiel, Laura Costas, Sharon Henry, Cookie Lupton, Lisa B. Herskovits, Belinda Subraman, Ellie Schoenfeld, Sparrow ., Gregg Shapiro, Cathryn Hankla, Wayne E. Kline, Jose Padua, Jeff Weddle)
1993
2
Mondo Elvis (By: Howard Waldrop, Cornelius Eady, Mark Childress, Susie Mee, Nick Cave, Mark Winegardner, Rafael Alvarez, Greil Marcus, Pagan Kennedy, Lucinda Ebersole, Richard Peabody, Lynne McMahon, Cathryn Hankla, Samuel Charters, Rachel Salazar, Eleanor Earle Crockett, Diane Wakoski, Judy Vernon, David Wojahn, William McCranor Henderson, Janice Eidus, Elizabeth Ash Vélez, Laura Kalpakian, Eri Makino, Ai, Michael Wilkerson, Brian Gilmore)
1994
3
Mondo Marilyn (By: J.G. Ballard, Michael Hemmingson, Clive Barker, Doris Grumbach, Beth Meacham, Lynne Tillman, Charles Bukowski, David Trinidad, Tom Whalen, Sharon Olds, Leslie Pietrzyk, Lyn Lifshin, Nanci Griffith, Robert Peters, Lucinda Ebersole, Richard Peabody, Jeanne Beaumont, Gregg Shapiro, Judy Grahn, Sam Toperoff, Julia P. Dubner, Bill Morris, John Rechy, L.A. Lantz, Phyllis Burke, Hillary Johnson, Rita Valencia, Michael Lally, Eleanor E. Crocket, Taylor Mead, Susan Compo, Rosanne Daryl Thomas)
1995
4
Mondo James Dean (By: Lewis Shiner, Jack C. Haldeman II, Bentley Little, Michael Hemmingson, Chuck Taylor, Michael Martone, Louisa Ermelino, Terence Winch, Lucinda Ebersole, Richard Peabody, Sparrow ., Janice Eidus, Ai, Tino Villanueva, Edwin Corley, Robert Ready, Reuben Jackson, Stephanie Hart, D.E. Steward, David Plumb, Ed Graczyk, Hilary Howard, James Finney Boylan, Miranda Schwartz)
1996
Alice McDermott Anthologies
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Mondo Barbie
1993
2
Mondo Elvis
1994
3
Mondo Marilyn
1995
4
Mondo James Dean
1996
5
Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink