Paul Harding (author)

Harding grew up on the North Shore of the Boston area in the town of Wenham, Massachusetts. In his youth, he spent a lot of time "knocking about in the woods," to which he attributes his love of nature.^[4] His grandfather repaired clocks, and he apprenticed under him, an experience that found its way into his first novel, Tinkers.^[5]

He has a B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MFA in Writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.^[6]

After graduating from the University of Massachusetts, he spent time touring with his band Cold Water Flat in the US and Europe. He had always been a heavy reader, and recalls reading Carlos Fuentes' Terra Nostra and thinking "this is what I want to do." In that book, Harding "saw the entire world, all of history." When he next had time off from touring with the band he signed up for a summer writing class at Skidmore College in New York. His teacher was Marilynne Robinson, and through her he learned about the Iowa Writers' Workshop writing program. There, he studied with Barry Unsworth, Elizabeth McCracken, and later Robinson. At some point,^[when?] he realized some of the people he admired most were "profoundly religious," so he spent years reading theology and was "deeply" influenced by Karl Barth and John Calvin. He considers himself a "self-taught modern New England transcendentalist."^[4]

Musically, Harding admires jazz drummers and considers John Coltrane's drummer, Elvin Jones, the greatest.^[4] Harding was the drummer in the band Cold Water Flat throughout its existence from 1990 to 1996.^[7]

Harding's second novel, Enon (2013), concerns characters from his first novel, Tinkers, looking at the lives of George Crosby's grandson, Charlie Crosby, and his daughter Kate.^[8]

His third novel, This Other Eden, was published in 2023. It was shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize and the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction.^[9][10]

He has taught writing at Harvard University and the University of Iowa.^[8] Previously, Harding was the director of the Creative Writing and Literature MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton,^[11] as well as interim associate provost of Stony Brook University's Lichtenstein Center.^[12] In September 2024, Harding began teaching in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College, where he is a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing.^[3]

Harding lives near Boston with his wife and two sons.^[8]

• —— (2009). Tinkers. Bellevue Literary Press. ISBN 9781934137123.
• —— (2013). Enon. Random House. ISBN 9781400069439.
• —— (2023). This Other Eden. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9781324036296.