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Don DeLillo Facts

Don DeLillo Facts
Don DeLillo is an American postmodern writer best known for his 1985 novel titled White Noise, that Time named one of the best English novels from 1923 to 2005. He was born Donald Richard DeLillo on November 20th, 1936, in the Bronx, in New York City. He was raised in an Italian-American neighborhood, spending much of his youth interested in sports and billiards and cards. When in his late teens he became interested in writing after spending his summer parking cars and reading books to pass the time. He graduated from Fordham University in 1958 with a bachelors' degree in Communication Arts. He took a job in advertising when he couldn't find one in publishing, and in 1960 sold his first short story.
Interesting Don DeLillo Facts:
Don DeLillo worked for the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather after graduating from university. He wrote image ads and print ads, but quit in 1964, when he says, "I was just getting good at it."
Don DeLillo's first published short story was titled The River Jordan. It was published in 1960 in Cornell University's literary magazine Epoch.
In 1966 Don DeLillo began writing his first novel. While writing his novel he had to stop periodically to write freelance in order to pay his rent. It took him four years to complete his first novel.
Don DeLillo's first novel titled Americana was published in 1971. He wrote and published a total of six novels in the 70s including Americana (1971), End Zone (1972), Great Jones Street (1973), Ratner's Star (1976), Players (1977), and Running Dog (1978).
Don DeLillo married Barbara Bennett, a landscape designer and former banker, in 1975.
Don DeLillo received the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1978. He used the funds to travel around the Middle East, and then to settle in Greece for three years where he wrote two more novels, Amazons (1980), and The Names (1982).
Amazons was published under the penname Cleo Birdwell.
White Noise was published in 1985. It was Don DeLillo's most successful novel to date, and he won the National Book Award for the novel.
Don DeLillo continued writing successful novels including Libra (1988), Mao II (1991), and Underworld (1998).
Don DeLillo's novel Underworld was named No. 2 on The New York Times' 2006 Best Book of the Last 25 years.
Don DeLillo has written several more books including The Body Artist (2001), Cosmopolis (2003), Falling Man (2007), and Point Omega (2010).
Don DeLillo has written and published many short stories, essays, plays, and even a screenplay titled Game 6, which was produced in 2005.
Don DeLillo's work has included a variety of topics including nuclear war, the Cold War, politics, global terrorism, material excess, and mass culture.
The list of awards given to Don DeLillo is extensive, beginning with the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1978, and the 1984 Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He has been nominated for the Pulitzer Price more than once, and in 2009 was awarded the Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service for his literary achievements.
In 2014 Don DeLillo was awarded the Norman Mailer Prize for Lifetime Achievement.


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