Steven Amsterdam


Steven Amsterdam is an American writer. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he also works as a palliative care nurse.

Biography

Steven Amsterdam was born and raised in New York City. He attended Bronx High School of Science, the University of Chicago and the University of Melbourne. He worked as a map editor, book jacket designer and pastry chef before moving to Australia in 2003. His writing has appeared in The Age, Conde Nast Traveller, Five Chapters, Huffington Post, Meanjin, The Monthly, Monument, Overland, Sleepers Almanac and Torpedo's Greatest Hits.
His first book, Things We Didn't See Coming was first published in Australia by in 2009. Alternately described as a novel or linked story collection, the book follows the narrator from Y2K into the future. The book won and was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier's Prize. In 2010, the book was published by Pantheon Books in the United States, where it was a Barnes & Noble Great New Writer selection, and by Harvill Secker in the United Kingdom, where it was longlisted for . The Guardian called the book Starting in 2011, the book was selected for the Victorian Certificate of Education for year 12 English.
What the Family Needed, a novel that follows a family with special powers over decades, was first published by in 2011, where it was shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year, the ALS Gold Medal, and longlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award and the International Dublin Literary Award.
, first published in 2016 by Hachette Australia, is set in an unnamed city where assisted dying is legal. The book, which follows the story of one such assistant, has been called by the Sydney Morning Herald and by The Australian Book Review. It has been shortlisted for the and longlisted for the .
Amsterdam has received a grant from the Australia Council. His books have been translated into Dutch, French, Italian and Hebrew.

Works




Honors

The Easy Way Out

Miles Franklin Award, longlist

ALS Gold Medal, shortlist

, longlist
What the Family Needed

International Dublin Literary Award, longlist

The Age Book of the Year, shortlist

Encore Award, shortlist

Prime Minister's Literary Awards, longlist

ALS Gold Medal, longlist
Things We Didn't See Coming

The Age Book of the Year, Fiction Book of the Year, winner

The Guardian First Book Award, longlist

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for New Fiction, shortlist