Aaron Hamburger was awarded the Rome Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his story collection THE VIEW FROM STALIN’S HEAD. His novel FAITH FOR BEGINNERS was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. His novel NIRVANA IS HERE is the winner of a Bronze Medal in the 2019 Foreword Indies Awards. His latest novel, HOTEL CUBA, was featured on NPR and named a best book of 2023 by Hadassah Magazine. He is the winner of the 2023 Jim Duggins, PhD Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize from Lambda Literary. His stories, essays, creative non-fiction, and more have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Poets & Writers, Tin House, Subtropics, O, the Oprah Magazine, Details, Crazyhorse, Boulevard, and many others.
Recent Publications
- “Trying to Solve a Family Mystery through Fiction”
essay about the writing of the novel Hotel Cuba for Literary Hub. - “The Cuban Connection”
conversation with Elizabeth Graver about our historical novels inspired by true stories of our grandmothers in Tablet Magazine. - “I Know Where I’m Going”
a short story about a Jewish-American victim of gun violence traveling in Morocco, in Image. - “Simple Past, Present Perfect”
a short story about New York City in the aftermath of 9/11, in The Massachusetts Review. - “Lessons I Learned in Writing My #Metoo Story”
essay about writing a #metoo story as both fiction and creative non-fiction, in Submittable. - “Yes, Kurt Cobain was a Grunge Icon. He was also a Gay Rights Hero.”
Creative non-fiction piece about listening to Kurt Cobain and coming out in the 90s, in The Washington Post. - “Beauty Mark”
An ode to the beauty of the comma in O, the Oprah Magazine. - “Sweetness Mattered”
Memoir essay about a unique wooing of a high school crush, in Tin House. - “Guiltless Pleasures” (PDF)
Short story about the food entertainment business and the search for meaning, in Crazyhorse.
News
- The Jewish Book Council has selected Hotel Cuba as their January fiction pick for book clubs. The book was also reviewed (glowingly!) on their website. Check it out!
- Read this conversation with Aaron and author Lauren Grodstein about their novels Hotel Cuba and We Must Not Think of Ourselves in Bomb Magazine!
- The staff of All Things Considered highlights their most memorable stories from 2023, which includes an interview with Aaron Hamburger about Hotel Cuba.
“…laugh-out-loud funny.”
“…the stuff of a Czech fairy tale.”
“…brilliant.”
“Hamburger engages the reader with wonderfully flawed characters and through the history, legend, and propaganda of modern Jewish life.”
“A knockout of a novel… The author’s shrewd and satirical look at Judaism, and American and Israeli style, is in the great tradition of Philip Roth.“
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