Bio
Glyn Vincent is a New York based journalist and author. A finalist for the National Magazine Award, he has written about art and culture, socio-political issues, and the environment for The New York Times Book Review, The New York Observer, The Paris Review, Huffington Post, Columbia Magazine, Gannett, Monocle, East and other publications.
He is the author of two books, the critically acclaimed biography of the American painter, R.A. Blakelock, The Unknown Night, and most recently, Crossing, a memoir about sailing the Atlantic and his family’s troubled, itinerant past. He is also the author of several plays.
Glyn was born and raised in New York City, though he spent some time as a child living in Ecuador and California. He later lived in Boston, France, Mexico and San Francisco before returning to New York where he worked as a reporter and editor at the United Nations and a New York City public-high school teacher.
Glyn graduated from Harvard College. While there he joined the American Repertory Theater and had his first play produced. He later earned an M.A. from Columbia University’s School of Journalism.
Glyn is active in local environmental organizations on Long Island where he saltwater fly-fishes and sails. He is a member of the Gray Wolf Press National Council.
He has appeared on New York Public Radio and lectured across the country.
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Awards & Grants
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2007 Finalist National Magazine Award for Feature Writing
2008 Case gold medal for periodical staff writing at Columbia Magazine
Phyllis Anderson Playwriting Award, Harvard University
Jerome Foundation Emerging Playwrights Grant
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What other's have said ~
Praise for Crossing
"[An] honest, page-turning account of a full-on, big ocean passage, the magic and tension of Crossing is its lovely, patient prose and the all-in confrontation it forces between shipmates and skippers, fathers and sons, dreams and reality, mystery and understanding —and the soul-settling manhood this Telemachus finally earns as captain of his own fate."
– David Michaelis, author of Eleanor
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“In Crossing, a gifted diarist takes on the challenge of that familiar dictum, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’ Vincent marries the absorbing tale of his first Transatlantic voyage under sail with the sometimes heart-wrenching history of his unconventional family, the end result an unflinchingly honest gem of a book.”
– Pete Bodo, award-winning sportswriter, author, and former outdoors columnist for The New York Times
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Glyn Vincent’s Crossing takes its place by Robert Stone’s Outerbridge Reach as a contemporary reckoning with personal history in the form of a white-knuckled sailing voyage. A son in search of the truth about his slippery father in an unsteady history that veers from Algeria to New York, to Paris, and back again, this conflicted and brutally honest story had me from start to finish.
– Rebecca Chace, New York Times Notable author of Leaving Rock Harbor
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Praise for The Unknown Night
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“A stunning picture of the art market's cruel failure to care for the welfare of artists.…Vincent does an excellent job…The best book yet written about this neglected and fascinating American painter.”
– The New York Times Book Review
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“Glyn Vincent explores quintessential themes of American optimism and despair: mysticism vies with the market, true artistry is bitterly shadowed by con-artistry, and genius ricochets into madness.”
– Philip Gourevitch, New Yorker staff writer
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“One of the most extraordinary art scams I have ever read about…”
– Arthur Danto, Book Forum
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“Vincent brilliantly relates the startling story of America’s ‘most expressive and idiosyncratic’ nineteenth century painter with the suspense and metaphorical richness of fiction…An arresting and ultimately haunting portrait…”
– Booklist
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