Fitzgerald, Michael A.

PERSONAL:

Married; children: two sons. Education: Hobart College, B.A.; University of Montana, M.F.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Boise, ID. Agent—Diana Finch Literary Agency, 116 W. 23rd St., Ste. 500, New York, NY 10011. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Software engineer and author.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fishtrap fellowship; Idaho Commission on the Arts Literature fellowship; ICA Quickfunds grant.

WRITINGS:

Radiant Days (novel), Shoemaker & Hoard (Emeryville, CA), 2007.

Contributor of short fiction to periodicals, including Swink, Northwest Review, CutBank, Massachusetts Review, Other Voices, and Boise Weekly.

SIDELIGHTS:

Software engineer Michael A. FitzGerald's first novel, Radiant Days, takes place in the turbulent setting of the Balkans, where a young American named Anthony travels in pursuit of a beautiful young Hungarian woman. The woman supposedly left to locate her missing son; in reality, Anthony finds himself caught up in an adoption scam and other dangerous situations. FitzGerald, who lived in Croatia and Budapest for a period of time in the 1990s, mined his experience of that region, along with a great deal of reading about the Balkans, to provide his story with a feeling of authenticity. Booklist contributor Carol Haggas praised FitzGerald's effort, which "mirrors the ennui and confusion of a generation and world enervated by ceaseless and senseless images of war." David A. Berona, in a review for Library Journal, dubbed the book a "skillfully written debut," and "a gripping narrative." On the New West Web site, Jenny Shank wrote of Anthony: "FitzGerald has succeeded in crafting a singularly unsympathetic narrator whose escapades straddle the uncomfortable line between comic and callous behavior."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2007, Carol Haggas, review of Radiant Days, p. 53.

Library Journal, February 1, 2007, David A. Berona, review of Radiant Days, p. 62.

New York Times, April 8, 2007, Lizzie Skurnick, review of Radiant Days.

Publishers Weekly, November 27, 2006, review of Radiant Days, p. 32.

Washington Post Book World, February 25, 2007, "Dot.com Narcissist," p. 6.

ONLINE

Boise Weekly Online,http://www.boiseweekly.com/ (February 21, 2007), Christian Lybrook, "Truer Than Truth," interview with Michael FitzGerald.

Elegant Code,http://elegantcode.com/ (January 28, 2007), David Starr, review of Radiant Days.

New West,http://www.newwest.net/ (May 22, 2007), Jenny Shank, "Frat Boy in a War Zone," review of Radiant Days; (June 15, 2007), Jenny Shank, "Western Writers," interview with Michael FitzGerald.

Radiant Days Web site,http://www.radiantdays.com (August 22, 2007), brief biography of Michael FitzGerald.