Six semifinalists named for Thurber Prize for American Humor
Six semifinalists have been named for the 2022 Thurber Prize for American Humor, with the winner to be selected from three finalists and announced April 22. The three finalists will be announced March 1.
The semifinalists are:
● Mike Birbiglia, a standup comedian, actor, director, producer and writer whose 2020 book “The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad” offers humorous parenting observations. Birbiglia was a finalist for the 2011 Thurber Prize for his book “Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories.”
● James Mcbride, whose 2020 book “Deacon King Kong” was named one of the top 10 books of the year by The New York Times and other publications. The novel injects humor into a 1960s story of a shooting in a Brooklyn housing project and the title character who triggers events. Mcbride is also the author of the memoir “The Color of Water” and the novel “The Good Lord Bird.”
● Laura Pedersen, whose 2020 book “A Theory of Everything Else: Essays” relates her experiences as a dog walker, camp counselor and bingo caller. Pederson also wrote about her experiences as
the youngest person at age 20 to have a seat on the American Stock Exchange in her first book, “Play Money.”
● Alexandra Petri, who delivers cheery essays on the horrors of present life in “Nothing Is Wrong and Here is Why,” published in 2020. Petri (now 33) became the youngest person to have a column in The Washington Post and runs the Compost blog on the paper’s website. Her book of essays, “A Field Guide to Awkward Silences,” was published in 2015.
● Shannon Reed, who candidly relays her experiences as a teacher in “Why Did I Get A B?,” published in 2020. Reed, a teacher and professor in western Pennsylvania and New York
City for the past 20 years, now teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
● M.O. Walsh, the bestselling author of “My Sunshine Away,” returned in 2020 with “The Big Door Prize,” a novel about a mysterious machine that wreaks havoc in a small Louisiana town. Walsh’s fiction and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and The Paris Review. He directs the Creative Writing Workshop at the University of New Orleans.
The Thurber Prize, recognizing the best humor writing published in the past year, has been awarded since 1997 and annually, since 2004. Previous winners include “The Daily Show” hosts Jon Stewart and Trevor Noah, The New Yorker staff writers Calvin Trillin and Ian Frazier and humorists, including Julie Schumacher and Alan Zweibel.
The event, including appearances by the top three finalists for the prize, will take place April 22 at the Lincoln Theatre, 769 E. Long St. Tickets will go on sale March 15.
“We think we have some really wonderful representation of American humor writing for 2022, and we really look forward to the event in April,” Thurber House Executive Director Laurie Lathan said.
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