Warren Alexander

Author biography

My Brooklyn kindergarten teacher said that I was the first five year old cynic she had ever encountered. And I have worked hard to reaffirm her observation.

I grew up in a standard two parent, one son, one daughter household. I attended a high school comprised of 75% first or second generation Americans, the substance of overachieving, which I carefully avoided. I looked at the subway map and chose the nearest four year school by distance, Baruch College. Fortunately, I met my wife of the last century there. She was impressed by how I continually made an ass of myself in Economics. At Baruch, I was the Content Editor for the college paper. What I thought was funny, and what the administration thought was funny, were three different things. Thus, I only lasted one term.

I applied to only one graduate program years later, when my grades mattered less. At the Creative Writing Program at NYU, I studied with Thomas Keneally, Peter Carey, and E. L. Doctorow where I learned a great deal about writing and how to produce quality work under time pressure. I was also thrown off the graduate school literary magazine because I lacked the solemnity for that elevated status.

As I am a slow writer, it took years to complete my first novel. Additionally, when you write funny, your first thought is not necessarily the best. The writer has the advantage of l’espirit d’escalier or staircase wit, which is when you think of witty or clever response after the conversation is over. As the reader has no idea when you wrote the witty retort, it could be years, the trick is make it sound like it occurred with immediacy.

My first novel was originally called The Dead Are Annoying but I was afraid people would think it was about vampires or zombies. Cousins’ Club is about the least successful Jewish family in America which has received generous reviews from professionals and people who just love to read.

I am ice hockey cuckoo and never met a bread I did not like. My wife and I have visited more than 45 countries and have returned from most of them.

I am currently working on a satire about business.

Bibliography

Cousins' Club