Michael Downing (May 8, 1958 – February 9, 2021) was an American writer and academic.Bryan Marquard, "Michael Downing, whose books illuminated his illness and the lives of others, dies at 62". Boston Globe, February 28, 2021. A longtime professor of creative writing at Tufts University, he was most noted for his 1999 novel Breakfast with Scot,Greg Bottoms, "'Breakfast With Scot' by Michael Downing: In a smart, funny and affecting novel, two gay men inherit an 11-year-old boy and blanch when he turns out to be a budding queen". Salon, November 16, 1999. which was a Stonewall Book Award nominee in 2001 and was adapted by Canadian film director Laurie Lynd into the 2007 film Breakfast with Scot.
Career A native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Harvard University,Lynne C. Daley, "Author Michael Downing's novel to be published soon". The Berkshire Eagle, November 2, 1987. Downing wrote for various magazines before publishing his debut novel A Narrow Time in 1987.Sara Laschever, "A first novel about a compelling issue". Boston Globe, January 7, 1988. He followed up with Mother of God in 1990,Peter Filkins, "Pittsfield is setting for family's tale of sleaze and pain". The Berkshire Eagle, June 17, 1990. and Perfect Agreement in 1997.Rebecca Dinerstein, "Revisiting the Shaker Community in Michael Downing’s 'Perfect Agreement'. The New York Times, March 15, 2019.
He joined Tufts University in 1998, after several years teaching at Wheelock College."Remembering Michael Downing". Tufts Now, February 22, 2021.
His later books included the novels The Chapel (2015)"The Chapel". Publishers Weekly, February 23, 2015. and Still in Love (2019),"Still in Love". Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2018. the non-fiction books Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center (2001)Gary Gach, "How the center found its Zen". San Francisco Examiner, November 25, 2001. and Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time (2005),David Mehegan, "Man of the hour: Michael Downing wanted to find out what makes daylight saving time tick". The Boston Globe, April 2, 2005. and the personal memoir Life with Sudden Death: A Tale of Moral Hazard and Medical Misadventure (2009).Elizabeth Benedict, "Memoirs are the New Novel: Here's to 'Life with Sudden Death'. The Huffington Post, March 18, 2010. The memoir addressed his experiences learning that he suffered from the same genetic heart defect that had caused the sudden deaths of his father and older brother, and his decision to mitigate the risk by having surgery to receive an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.Carey Goldberg, "Genetic testing brings new hope, hard choices". Boston Globe, August 4, 2008.
Personal life Downing met his partner Peter Bryant in 1982. The couple legally married in 2013.
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