birth_place imagesize nationality birth_date period genre image article_title name occupation
van nuys , california 275px united states 1952 1981 -- present creative nonfiction lawrence weschler by david shankbone.jpg lawrence weschler
 lawrence weschler writer
lawrence weschler

lawrence weschler -lrb- born 1952 -rrb- is an author of works of creative nonfiction .
a graduate of cowell college of the university of california , santa cruz -lrb- 1974 -rrb- , weschler was for over twenty years -lrb- 1981 -- 2002 -rrb- a staff writer at `` the new yorker '' , where his work shuttled between political tragedies and cultural comedies .
he is a two-time winner of the george polk awards -- for cultural reporting in 1988 and magazine reporting in 1992 -- and was also a recipient of lannan literary award -lrb- 1998 -rrb- .
his books of political reportage include the passion of poland -lrb- 1984 -rrb- ; a miracle , a universe : settling accounts with torturers -lrb- 1990 -rrb- ; and calamities of exile : three nonfiction novellas -lrb- 1998 -rrb- .
his `` passions and wonders '' series currently comprises seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees : a life of contemporary artist robert irwin -lrb- 1982 -rrb- ; david hockney 's cameraworks -lrb- 1984 -rrb- ; mr. wilson 's cabinet of wonder -lrb- 1995 -rrb- ; a wanderer in the perfect city : selected passion pieces -lrb- 1998 -rrb- boggs : a comedy of values -lrb- 1999 -rrb- ; robert irwin : getty garden -lrb- 2002 -rrb- ; vermeer in bosnia -lrb- 2004 -rrb- ; and everything that rises : a book of convergences -lrb- february 2006 -rrb- .
mr. wilson was shortlisted for both the pulitzer prize and the national book critics circle award ; and everything that rises received the 2007 national book critics circle award for criticism .
recent books include a considerably expanded edition of seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees , comprising thirty years of conversations with robert irwin ; a companion volume , true to life : twenty five years of conversation with david hockney ; liza lou -lrb- a monograph out of rizzoli -rrb- ; tara donovan , the catalog for the artist 's recent exhibition at boston 's institute for contemporary art , and deborah butterfield , the catalog for a survey of the artist 's work at the la louver gallery .
his latest addition to `` passions and wonders , '' the collection uncanny valley : adventures in the narrative , came out from counterpoint in october 2011 .
weschler has taught , variously , at princeton , columbia , ucsc , bard , vassar , sarah lawrence , and nyu , where he is now distinguished writer in residence at the carter journalism institute .
he recently graduated to director emeritus of the new york institute for the humanities at nyu , where he has been a fellow since 1991 and was director from 2001-2013 , and from which base he had tried to start his own semiannual journal of writing and visual culture , omnivore .
he is also the artistic director emeritus , still actively engaged , with the chicago humanities festival , and curator for new york live ideas , an annual body-based humanities collaboration with bill t. jones and his ny live arts .
he is a contributing editor to mcsweeney 's , the threepeeny review , and the virginia quarterly review ; curator at large of the dvd quarterly wholphin ; -lrb- recently retired -rrb- chair of the sundance -lrb- formerly soros -rrb- documentary film fund ; and director of the ernst toch society , dedicated to the promulgation of the music of his grandfather , the noted weimar emigre composer .
he recently launched `` pillow of air , '' a monthly `` amble through the worlds of the visual '' column in the believer .
