Vizzini, Ned 1981-

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Vizzini, Ned 1981-

Personal

Born April 4, 1981, in New York, NY; son of James D. (an executive vice president) and Emma (a chief executive officer) Vizzini. Education: Hunter College, B.S. (computer science and English), 2003.

Addresses

Home—New York, NY. Agent—Jay Mandel, William Morris Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Journalist. New York Press, New York, NY, contributing writer, 2001-02; freelance writer, 2002-03. Former computer programmer at New York Cityscape, Computer Associates, Edison Price Lighting, and Brain Bridge. Quiktrak, New York, NY, former bike messenger.

Writings

Teen Angst? Naaah …: A Quasi-Autobiography, Free Spirit Publishing (Minneapolis, MN), 2000.

Be More Chill, Miramax (New York, NY), 2004.

It's Kind of a Funny Story, Miramax (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor of short fiction to anthologies, including Sixteen, Not like I'm Jealous or Anything, Guys Write for Guys Read, and 21 Proms, 2006. Contributor of articles to newspapers and magazines, including Teen and New York Times Magazine. Author of "Since When?" (weekly column), for New York Press.

Author's works have been translated into several languages, including Dutch, German, Italian, French, Hebrew, Indonesian, and Spanish.

Adaptations

Vizzini's books have been adapted for audiobook by Harper Audio. Film rights to Be More Chill were acquired by Depth of Field Productions. Film rights to It's Kind of a Funny Story were acquired by Paramount Pictures, 2006.

Sidelights

Ned Vizzini's first published work was an essay he submitted to the New York Press, about winning a school literary prize. As a freelance writer for the paper, he wrote about everything from family vacations to getting drunk in the street with dangerous urban youth. The success of Vizzini's work earned him an invitation to contribute a teen-focused article to the New York Times. His New York Press columns eventually became the core of his first book, Teen Angst? Naaah …: A Quasi-Autobiography, which was published when its author was nineteen years old. Vizzini then moved into fiction with the young-adult novels Be More Chill and It's Kind of a Funny Story. He has more recently moved into literary reviews and writing short fiction outside of the young-adult realm.

According to critical consensus, in the columns included in Teen Angst? Vizzini comes across as geeky, intelligent, and funny, although a mature perspective is revealed in his comic asides and in the book's index. Vizzini's "wonderfully sardonic voice … suggests a wisdom beyond his years," remarked Laura Glaser in a review of the book for School Library Journal. Other reviewers emphasized the humorous aspect of Vizzini's unglamorous tales of high school life. "He's gifted but gawky, adventurous yet filled with anxiety. Most of all, he shows a real talent for self-deprecating humor," wrote a reviewer for Publishers Weekly. Although Booklist contributor Todd Morning claimed that Vizzini's humor "occasionally … seems forced," the critic added that both teens and adults would find much common ground in Teen Angst?

Featuring what a Publishers Weekly reviewer described as an "over-the-top plot and tangy narrative," Be More Chill introduces geeky high schooler Jeremy Heere, who wisely recognizes that he needs all the help he can get to win the heart of the ultra-bright Christine. After secretly cashing in 600 dollars worth of his aunt's Beanie Baby collection, the awkward teen purchases a squib, a microscopic supercomputer implant that is guaranteed to raise Jeremy's hip-ness rating. While the device makes good on its promises, and Jeremy's popularity rises, as Christine gets within his sites the squib begins to push Jeremy to take some eyebrow-raising actions that reflect poorly on his character. The Publishers Weekly critic, while noting the novel's teen appeal, also praised Vizzini's "wry, nearly anthropological observations of the high school caste system," and Loren Adams described Be More Chill as a "teenage boy's fairy tale come true" in her Horn Book review. Calling the novel "a witty send-up of high school hierarchies," Kliatt reviewer Amanda MacGregor predicted that the author's "engaging satire on popularity will appeal to the geeks, the cool kids, and everyone in between." In his review for the New York Times Book Review, Simon Rodberg was clear: Be More Chill "is so accurate that it should come with a warning."

It's Kind of a Funny Story is based on Vizzini's five-day stay in Brooklyn's Methodist Hospital psychiatric ward. The book recounts fifteen-year-old Craig Gilner's battle with suicidal depression as a result of a taxing school year at Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School that exacerbates his feelings of social inadequacy. Although Craig gets support from his parents and sister, but the friends that surface in his narration are too caught up in their own problems to help him. Eventually, long-dormant talents resurface as Craig gains a newfound ability to connect to others during his hospitalization. In the novel he shows himself to be a typical Vizzini protagonist: "good kids at sea in a confusing world," as Claire Rosser noted in Kliatt. Craig comes across as a "sensitive teen," wrote School Library Journal reviewer Diane P. Tuccillo, and his "well-paced narrative … is filled with humor and pathos." While calling the novel's plot somewhat unrealistic, Ilene Cooper praised Vizzini's narrative voice as "intimate, real, funny, ironic, and one kids will come closer to hear," concluding that It's Kind of a Funny Story "offers hope in a package that readers will find enticing."

Discussing the writing life with Boston Herald reviewer Lauren Beckham Falcone, Vizzini had the following ad- vice for aspiring authors: "Write what you know, and kill your darlings, which means get rid of the stuff that sounds good to you and you alone. That's the hard part. The easy part is submitting. Prepare to be rejected, but, really, just have the guts to do it."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Vizzini, Ned, Teen Angst? Naaah …: A Quasi-Autobiography, Free Spirit Publishing (Minneapolis, MN), 2000.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 15, 2000, Todd Morning, review of Teen Angst?, pp. 428, 431; August, 2004, Debbie Carton, review of Be More Chill, p. 1921; February 1, 2006, Ilene Cooper, review of It's Kind of a Funny Story, p. 49.

Boston Herald, June 12, 2000, Lauren Beckham Falcone, "Write-Minded" (interview with Vizzini).

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September, 2004, Janice Del Negro, review of Be More Chill, p. 43; May, 2006, Loretta Gaffney, review of It's Kind of a Funny Story, p. 427.

Horn Book, September-October, 2004, Lauren Adams, review of Be More Chill, p. 600; May-June, 2006, Jennifer M. Brabander, review of It's Kind of a Funny Story, p. 336.

Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, May, 2005, James Blasingame, review of Be More Chill, p. 716; April, 2007, James Blasingame, interview with Vizzini, p. 607.

Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2004, review of Be More Chill, p. 542; April 1, 2006, review of It's Kind of a Funny Story, p. 358.

Kliatt, May, 2004, Paula Rohrlick, review of Be More Chill, p. 14; January, 2006, Amanda MacGregor, review of Be More Chill, p. 22; March, 2006, Claire Rosser, review of It's Kind of a Funny Story, p. 18.

New York Times Book Review, May 16, 2004, Simon Rodberg, review of Be More Chill, p. 24; June 18, 2006, Tanya Lee Stone, review of It's Kind of a Funny Story, p. 15.

Publishers Weekly, July 31, 2000, review of Teen Angst?, p. 97; March 10, 2003, John F. Baker, "Two-Book Deal for Teen Cult Writer," p. 12; June 28, 2004, review of Be More Chill, p. 51; April 10, 2006, review of It's Kind of a Funny Story, p. 74.

School Library Journal, November, 2000, Laura Glaser, review of Teen Angst?, p. 177; April, 2006, Diane P. Tuccillo, review of It's Kind of a Funny Story, p. 49.

Voice of Youth Advocates, June, 2004, Walter Hogan, review of Be More Chill, p. 148; April, 2006, David Goodale, review of It's Kind of a Funny Story, p. 54.