Thad Ziolkowski

Thad Ziolkowski was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. During the 1980s and 1990s, he published poetry in journals such as Sulfur, Mandorla, O-blek, Lingo, and Talisman. His work was included in An Anthology of (American) Poets (Talisman Books, 1998) and Writing from the New Coast (O-blek Editions, 1993). His chapbooks include Dream Works (Bill Maynes Books, 1996) and Terminal B (Fractional Currency, 1990). His book-length collection of poems, Our Son, the Arson (What Books) was published in 1996. Mr. Ziolkowski was also, for most of the 1990s, a staff reviewer for Artforum Magazine. His book reviews, film reviews, cultural criticism, and travel writing have appeared in Slate, Bookforum, Index, Travel & Leisure, and The Village Voice.

With the publication, in 2002, of the memoir On a Wave (Grove/Atlantic), Mr. Ziolkowski turned to narrative prose. An account of his surfer boyhood in Melbourne Beach, Florida, On a Wave was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 2003. He is currently completing an untitled novel, for which the Guggenheim Fellowship provided crucial support.

Thad Ziolkowski directs the Writing Program at Pratt Institute, where he has been on the faculty since 1997. He has also taught at Yale University, New York University, Vassar College and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard Center. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the artist Juliana Ellman, and their son, Teo. He has a PhD in English Literature from Yale University.