Don DeLillo is a highly acclaimed American author, best known for his literary fiction novels that provide intricate portrayals of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He has received numerous prestigious awards for his work, including the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the American Book Award. DeLillo currently resides near New York City, where he continues to write and produce critically acclaimed literature.
DeLillo was born on November 20, 1936, and spent much of his early life in a Catholic, working-class family in Molise. As a child, he often found himself on the streets, passing the time by pretending to be a radio presenter announcing baseball games. DeLillo's love for writing did not become apparent until his early twenties and thirties, when he developed a personal "golden age" of reading. This newfound passion for literature eventually led to his own career as a writer. DeLillo's first job out of college was as a parking attendant, where he developed the habit of reading during his downtime. This job allowed him to read widely and eventually sparked his interest in writing.
Over the course of his career, DeLillo has written and published fifteen novels, including "Zero K," "Underworld," "Falling Man," "White Noise," and "Libra." His work has been widely recognized for its excellence, and he has received numerous awards for his contributions to literature. In addition to the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the American Book Award, DeLillo has also been awarded the Jerusalem Prize for his complete body of work and the William Dean Howells Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2010, he received the PEN/Saul Bellow Prize, and in 2012, he was awarded the Carl Sandburg Literary Award for his body of work. DeLillo's most recent novel, "Point Omega," was published in 2010.