Susan Cheever is an acclaimed, best-selling author whose 16 published books and dozens of essays have built on the brilliant legacy of her father, the novelist and short story writer, John Cheever. Her father’s stories will be the subject of her upcoming book When All the Men Wore Hats: Cheever on Cheever. Her writing includes memoir, biography, and fiction.
Her book about American history as seen through the lens of alcoholism, Drinking in America: Our Secret History, was published in 2015 and longlisted for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for fiction. Cheever has written for many magazines and newspapers including The New Yorker, the New York Times, and Newsday, where she contributed to winning a 1997 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. Her other awards include a National Book Critic Circle nomination, the Associated Press Award for investigative reporting, the Boston Globe’s Winship Medal, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Cheever has taught at Yale, Sarah Lawrence College, Brown University, and Bennington College. She’s currently a faculty member at The New School in their MFA program. She serves on the board of the Yaddo Corporation and the Author’s Guild Council.
In addition to her writing and teaching career, Susan is an experienced and enthusiastic public speaker about recovery, e. e. cummings, American history, and the writing process.
