News related to The Next Scott Nadelson

by Scott Nadelson

Valerie Stivers-Isakova reviews Scott Nadelson’s memoir The Next Scott Nadelson

28 Jul 2015|

Oh, my beloved Hawthorne imprint, whose every book I like.

The Next Scott Nadelson is a memoir about a guy living in Portland who gets dumped by his fiancee and is depressed for a while, but eventually gets over it—that is to say, it’s a memoir about an ordinary person reeling around in the dramas of ordinary life. With something like this it’s all about the rendering of detail and the level of insight the person is able to achieve into their dramas. Scott Nadelson writes wonderful...Forward

New Scott Nadelson story, “Willowbrook,” in Gulf Stream Lit Mag

15 Dec 2014|

Excerpt from “Willowbrook,” by Scott Nadelson for Gulf Stream Lit Mag


At a quarter past eight on a steamy July morning that already had him sweating in his suit, Joseph Mandel, weekday manager of Florsheim’s, raised his bald head and listened. The noise came from the stock room. Boxes shifting, tissue paper crinkling. Nothing to be alarmed about, though he was aware of a mild queasiness rising from abdomen to chest as he left the register, which he’d nearly finished refilling with fives...Forward

Congratulations Scott Nadelson for The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress Announced A Housatonic Book Award Finalist!

03 Oct 2014|

Nonfiction
Finalists & Winners Announced – 2014

The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University and its alumni organization, the MFA Alumni Writers Collaborative, are delighted to announce the winners of the inaugural Housatonic Book Awards. The winner in each category will receive a $1000 honorarium and a $500 travel stipend and will appear at a residency of the MFA program to give a public reading and present a Master Class to MFA students. Guidelines...Forward

Fifth Wednesday Journal announces the Editor’s Prize Winners for 2014: Scott Nadelson in Fiction

29 Jul 2014|

WJ does not sponsor contests or offer prizes based on reading fees. Each year we ask an established artist in his or her field to select the recipient of our Editor’s Prize in Fiction and Poetry. The field is limited to work published in Fifth Wednesday Journal. The author of the selected work in each genre receives a modest monetary award and recognition in our pages, as well as on our website. The winners this year were chosen from among works published in the fall 2013 and spring 2014...Forward

“Life experiences shape Scott Nadelson’s writing, teaching,” Willamette University

05 Mar 2014|

Scott Nadelson’s life began unraveling in 2004, when his fiancée left him for a drag king a month before their wedding.

That’s when he took up residence in a drafty attic. The brakes went out in his car, and he learned his cat was dying.

For two years, Nadelson struggled to reassert himself — enduring a slew of awkward dates and personal missteps along the way. Accounts of these experiences are shared in his new memoir, “The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress.”

Nominated for...Forward

Scott Nadelson compared to Saul Bellow in Fifth Wednesday‘s review of The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress

10 Feb 2014|

By Adam Gallari

For previous fans of Nadelson, The Next Scott Nadelson will come as no surprise, and it will greater enhance the understanding of his previous fiction. For those unacquainted with the author, they might be pleased to find that they have not necessarily encountered the next Philip Roth, but a new, twenty-first century version of the late, great master of the absurdly comic tragedy that is life, Saul Bellow.

To read the entire review, go the Fifth Wednesday.

Scott Nadelson interviewed by Barbara Curtin at the Statesman Journal regarding his Oregon Book Award nomination.

07 Jan 2014|

Nadelson holds Willamette University’s Hallie Ford Chair in Writing. He won an Oregon Book Award in 2004 for “Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories,” and he was a finalist in 2006 for “The Cantor’s Daughter.”

Nadelson was notified by phone on Friday that he was on the short list for this year’s creative nonfiction award.

“I was even more excited this morning when I saw who else was on the list of finalists,” he emailed. “I’m thrilled to be listed with such a terrific...Forward

Scott Nadelson’s The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress named a Finalist for the Oregon Book Award in Creative Nonfiction

06 Jan 2014|

Congratulations, Scott Nadelson!

To see the entire list of Oregon Book Award finalists, go to Literary Arts.

Scott Nadelson’s essay, “Victory at Culloden” on Bending Genre

02 Dec 2013|

My daughter, three, has recently taken to using the word “actually” whenever she wants to convince me of something I won’t likely believe. “Well, actually, Daddy,” she said the other night, shuffling into my office ten minutes after I put her to bed, “I’m not sleepy at all.” Then she let loose an enormous yawn.

One of my colleagues does something similar, only he prefers the phrase “in fact”: “Maybe the students don’t, in fact, want as much feedback as we’re giving...Forward

Scott Nadelson on Marion Roach Smith’s Writing Lessons: “How to Get Some Distance from Yourself When Writing Memoir”

26 Nov 2013|

HOW DO YOU DISTANCE YOURSELF when writing memoir? It’s a great question, and an even greater exercise when you sit down to write. When Scott Nadelson proposed it, I snapped it right up, particularly after reading his fine new memoir, recently published by Hawthorne Press. A book of self-discovery, The Next Scott Nadelson, A Life in Progress, will amaze you, but pay close attention as it also teaches you how to get some distance from yourself when writing memoir. It’s something you must...Forward

Dinah Lenney interviews Judith Kitchen, David Biespiel, Scott Nadelson & Sven Birkerts: Why Genre Matters

17 Sep 2013|

Dinah LenneyAuthor Lawrence Weschler once said, “Every narrative voice — and especially every nonfiction narrative voice — is a fiction. And the world of writing and reading is divided into those who know this and those who don’t.” And Nabokov said: “Fiction is fiction. To call a story a true story is an insult to both art and truth.” So who’s right? Or are they saying the same thing? And how to argue with either of them and do I want to?

Scott NadelsonI’m tired of hearing...Forward

Scott Nadelson story “A Warm Breath,” free at Ploughshares

01 Aug 2013|

From Ploughshares:

Between the long evenings and lazy vacation days, summer is a great time to catch up on reading. If you’re looking for an engrossing piece you can read in a single sitting, you’re in luck! For your summer reading pleasure, we’re making a Ploughshares Solos free on your Kindle (or Kindle app) for the first five days of each month this summer. Last month we offered you a free copy of Robert Cohen’s story “Klopstock, or The Distant Sound,” and now that it’s August...Forward

Scott Nadelson in Conversation with Amber Lee on Necessary Fiction

26 Jun 2013|

Amber LeeYou have published three short shory collections and, most recently, a memoir,The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress. What prompted you to go from writing fiction to creative nonfiction?

Scott NadelsonI didn’t set out to write a memoir. I was doing what I usually do, which is to start a story with some nugget of autobiography — in this case I was writing about the aftermath of a break-up — and then improvise. But as I got further into the story, I decided to give the...Forward

Scott Nadelson’s The Next Scott Nadelson reviewed in The Collagist

17 Jun 2013|

With a voice that’s smart, candid, self-effacing, and immensely likeable, Nadelson’s memoir is a complete success.—Tyler McMahon

To read the entire review, go to The Collagist.

Scott Nadelson’s The Next Scott Nadelson reviewed in Oregon Jewish Life by Paul Haist

04 Jun 2013|

[The Next Scott Nadelson] seems written to a cool score by Townes Van Zandt and is a book that is hard to put aside…Philip
Roth usually comes to mind when I read Nadelson…I mention the Roth comparison because I think Nadelson is better compared with
another writer, not Jewish. Reading Scott Nadelson makes me want to read more Turgenev, but only while I eagerly await the next Scott Nadelson.

To read the entire review, go to Oregon Jewish Life.

Scott Nadelson interviewed in Run to the Roundhouse, Nellie, by Melissa Shook

23 May 2013|

Scott Nadelson writes well and he’s genuinely funny as well as sensitive. It seems rare to read about anyone, especially a man, who has so much trouble becoming angry and who automatically puts all the blame for mishaps upon himself. This quality makes reading this book inherently refreshing.

Melissa ShookI grew up in a time when the boundaries of gender were less fluid, or at least not displayed as such so readily. It’s been fascinating to watch the change—the frail young student who...Forward

Scott Nadelson’s “A Warm Breath” is a Ploughshares Solo

13 May 2013|

From Ploughshares: We’re excited to announce the publication of a new Ploughshares Solo: “A Warm Breath” by Scott Nadelson.  The Ploughshares Solos series allows us to publish long essays and stories in a digital format.

In this darkly humorous essay, Nadelson describes his grief after the premature death of a close friend. Every moment of wonder he experiences—from caring for his infant daughter to taking in a neighborhood stray cat—starts to feel like a betrayal. Nadelson looks...Forward

Scott Nadelson on Other People with Brad Listi, In-Depth, Inappropriate interviews with authors

24 Apr 2013|

Go on over to Other People and give this a listen, and you can also subscribe to the show.

Scott Nadelson interviewed on Miami Book Radio

09 Apr 2013|

Author Spotlight: Scott Nadelson on Writing the Memoir

Miami Book Radio Most writers find it hard to write about themselves so openly and honestly as you’ve done with The Next Scott Nadelson.

Scott NadelsonBefore writing the book, I always thought it would be difficult, too. But strangely, I found it exhilarating, especially when I wasn’t thinking about it as a book that other people would read but just as something I was messing with for my own pleasure. Being as open and honest as...Forward

Scott Nadelson and Jay Ponteri at Powell’s to launch their Love Will Tear Us Apart Book Tour, by Diane Prokop

01 Apr 2013|

Diane Prokop covers the Scott Nadelson and Jay Ponteri’s Love Will Tear Us Apart Book Tour at Powell’s to launch their memoirs, The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress and Wedlocked, respectively.

The audience got a double dose of soul-bearing, and painfully honest portrayals of lives in transition, of guys on journeys through the darker points in their lives, and of frankly what would be really embarrassing revelations for most of us. But for a memoirist, it is de rigueur, and Scott and...Forward

Scott Nadelson Self Interview on The Nervous Breakdown

28 Mar 2013|

Scott NadelsonHow could you do this to me?

Scott NadelsonI’m sorry.

Scott NadelsonI thought we had a deal.

Scott NadelsonI know, I know.

Scott NadelsonYou were supposed to go on writing your little stories about everyday woe in the New Jersey suburbs, and I was going to enjoy my obscurity here in Oregon.

Scott NadelsonThat was always my intention.


To read the entire Scott Nadelson Self Interview, go to The Nervous Breakdown.

Scott Nadelson’s The Next Scott Nadelson reviewed in the Portland Mercury by Alison Hallett

27 Mar 2013|

Hawthorne always appreciates Alison Hallett’s reviews because while she may not always share our enthusiasm for each book, she discusses aspects such as style, narrative arc, and construction. Here is an excerpt from her review of Scott Nadelson’s The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress:

“It’s unusual to read a memoir built of short stories, but it works—instead of forcing a narrative arc onto his own life, as so many memoir writers do, Nadelson simply places these stories next to one...Forward

Scott Nadelson’s The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress reviewed in Portland Monthly

26 Mar 2013|

But even in his most pitiful moments, Nadelson’s readers can’t help but look through their fingers at him, not in disgust or bewilderment, but in solidarity.

Nadelson’s darkest moments repeatedly coincide with self-discovery and growth, reminding anyone who has been miserable that it’s never all for naught. But the gravity of it all is balanced out by the humor that often goes hand-in-hand with the kind of rawness and self-deprecation Nadelson injects into his work.

More than once,...Forward

The Nervous Breakdown Runs an Excerpt of Scott Nadelson’s The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress

25 Mar 2013|

My fiancée left me for a drag king named Donny Manicotti.

That sounds like the start of a joke, but it’s not. It’s my life.

I do find it funny now – from a distance of some years and happily married – and even at the time I recognized how ridiculous the situation was, though mostly I was bewildered and devastated. I’d always prided myself on being someone who appreciated the absurdity of life, who didn’t take it too seriously, but there’s an enormous difference, I discovered,...Forward

The Oregonian reviews Scott Nadelson’s The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress

23 Mar 2013|

One of the strengths of memoir as a form of writing is its ability to dramatize and articulate a narrator’s struggle to account for self-becoming: how did I get from there to here where I’m writing from? Scott Nadelson personifies this strength in The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress, through his self-aware character, the younger Scott Nadelson, who anticipates his later self’s backward-looking narration even as he faces the pain of his immediate suffering.

But ultimately it isn’t what...Forward

Scott Nadelson interviewed by Sally McPherson for NW Book Lovers

12 Mar 2013|

Identity and Fear: Talking with Scott Nadelson about The Next Scott Nadelson

Sally McPherson interviews Scott Nadelson for PW Book Lovers:

Sally McPhersonAs you were revising passages in your book, did you ever think “I need to be more honest, more revealing, about this”? Or did you think, “That’s too painful or private to reveal; I need to rein it in”?

Scott NadelsonWhen I committed myself to writing a book in which I was the main character—after debating for a while whether I...Forward

Making the Memoir (Mostly) Respectable by Rhonda Hughes: A Foreword Reviews Interview

09 Mar 2013|

ForewordMemoir can be a tricky genre in terms of quality. Talk about why you believe in it and also about your selection criteria/method.

RhondaI often find myself at parties defending memoir. At a Christmas Eve party, I gave one of my friends Jay Ponteri’s upcoming book, Wedlocked, which is about a married man with a young son who falls in love with his local barista. I published this book firstly because it is well written and because it poses questions regarding monogamy and marriage and...Forward

Enter the Love Will Tear Us Apart Contest Part Two to win a free copy of Scott Nadelson’s memoir, The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress and a One-Of-A-Kind Hawthorne Books coffee mug.

07 Mar 2013|

Enter the Love Will Tear Us Apart Contest Part Two

Do you have a remedy for surviving Heartbreak? Want a free copy of The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress along with an official one-of-a-kind Hawthorne coffee mug?

All you have to do is go to Scott’s guest blog here, scroll to the bottom (after reading!) and post your remedy for getting over heartbreak. We’ll chose the best five of the bunch!

The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress is about Scott’s heartbreak after his...Forward

Enter the Love Will Tear Us Apart Contest to win a free copy of Scott Nadelson’s memoir, The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress and a One-Of-A-Kind Hawthorne Books coffee mug.

06 Mar 2013|

Enter the Love Will Tear Us Apart Contest

Have your own break-up story? Want a free copy of The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress along with an official one-of-a-kind Hawthorne coffee mug?

All you have to do is go to Scott’s guest blog here, scroll to the bottom (after reading!) and post your own story of woe. We’ll chose the best five of the bunch!

Just so you know what you’re up against, The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress is about Scott’s heartbreak after his fiancée left...Forward

Scott Nadelson is Shelf Awareness’ Book Brahmin!

06 Mar 2013|

Favorite line from a book:

From Flannery O’Connor’s story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”: “‘She would of been a good woman,’ The Misfit said, ‘if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.’ “

To read the entire article, go here.

The Pinch Literary Journal says Scott Nadelson’s memoir, The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress is great!

05 Mar 2013|

Pinch Contributor Scott Nadelson has a new memoir out, and it’s great.

Scott Nadelson‘s “Scavengers” appeared in our Spring 2012 (32.1) issue (buy it here), and now that piece makes its excellent reappearance in his new collection, The Next Scott Nadelson. The work is concerned with excavating two years of Nadelson’s life—time spent the way humans always spend it, wanting and losing and getting back up again. It’s a worthy read by a guy we’re pleased to know. Better still,...Forward

Scott Nadelson credits the writing of his memoir, The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress, to teaching at Willamette University

02 Mar 2013|

Nadelson says he didn’t set out to write a memoir. But after beginning with a nugget of his autobiography, he found himself sticking closely to his own experiences.

“What I found while doing so was a sort of giddy nervousness that emerged from the process, as if I were shouting secrets from a rooftop,” Nadelson says. “I ended up laughing a lot as I wrote, which was a new experience for me.”

Nadelson describes his book as an investigation of identity, adding that he probably...Forward

Barbara Curtin at Statesman Journal blogs about Scott Nadelson

27 Feb 2013|

Willamette prof has new memoir: The Next Scott Nadelson


Scott Nadelson, who holds Willamette University’s Hallie Ford Chair in Writing, has a new collection of autobiographical essays: The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress.


It starts in the summer of 2004, when his life seemed to fall apart. Over the next two years, he’d struggle to get back on his feet. In these essays, he re-examines his past to understand his present circumstances.


Read Barbara Curtin’s entire blog.

Who doesn’t like free books? Goodreads is offering free copies of Scott Nadelson’s The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress

19 Feb 2013|

Over two hundred people have entered to win copies of Scott Nadelson’s memoir on shelves next month The Next Scott Nadelson: A Life in Progress on Goodreads! Maybe you will be one of them?