Robert Dunn (novelist)

Robert Dunn
Robert Dunn
Born	(1950-11-16) November 16, 1950 Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist and photographer
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley
Notable works	Meet the Annas
Notable awards	O. Henry Prize
Website
www.ecstaticlightphoto.com

Robert Dunn (born November 16, 1950) is an American novelist and photographer. Dunn is the author of seven musical novels, including Pink Cadillac (2001), Meet the Annas (2007), and Savage Joy (2017). He has also published photobooks including OWS, the Angel Parade series, Meeting Robert Frank, New York Street, and A Carnival of Souls. Dunn received an O. Henry Prize in 1980.^[1][2]

Dunn was born in Santa Monica, California. In 1972, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1976 to 1982, he worked on the editorial staff of The New Yorker. In 1982, he was a resident at the artists’ colony Yaddo.^[3] During the final years of Bernard Malamud’s life, from 1983 to 1986, Dunn served as his literary assistant.^[4][5]

He taught writing at Dickinson College from 1982 to 1983. From 1989 to the present he’s taught at The New School, where he also led what was considered the nation's first accredited online fiction writing course, through the school’s Dial Program. In 2016, he introduced a photobook course at the institution.^[6]

Dunn was the leader of Thin Wild Mercury, a music group that performed in New York venues including CBGB. From 1984 to 2017, he worked as a copyreader at Sports Illustrated.^[4]

Dunn is the author of a series of music-themed novels, including Pink Cadillac (2001), Cutting Time (2003), Soul Cavalcade (2005), Meet the Annas (2007), Look at Flower (2011), Stations of the Cross (2013), and Savage Joy (2017). These novels were published under Dunn's own publishing company, Coral Press. His novel The Sting Rays was published online by Electron Press in 2006.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

In 1980, he received an O. Henry Prize for his short story "Hopeless Acts Performed Properly, With Grace." He has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times Book Review, The Sewanee Review, Omni Magazine, the Mississippi Review, and Mother Jones.^[1]

In 2012, Dunn published his first photobook, OWS, which was later added to the permanent collection of the New York Public Library.^[12][13][14] Further photobooks include the Angel Parade series (2012–present), Meeting Robert Frank (2013), New York Street, A Carnival of Souls, I Shall Be Free #7, La Mala Hora, Taylor Swift Doesn’t Own the Color Red, Sorrow Street, Black Cat Bone, Absolutely 28 Goldfish, Tokyo Cool, Red Lips and Shadow Kings, The Abyss Above/The Abyss Below, Electrick Spirits, Furious Palms, Purloined Souls, and Guillotine.^[10][15]

A number of Dunn's photobooks are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the International Center of Photography, and the Center for Book Arts.^[3]

In 2023, Dunn published The Mysteries of Light, a collection of photobook reviews, and Mirrors and Smoke: How I Became a Photographer, a prose work on his experiences with photography.^[16][17]

• Official website
• Ecstaticlightphoto.com