Jacob M. Appel

Appel was born in the Bronx to Gerald B. Appel and Alice Appel and raised in Scarsdale, New York,[6] and Branford, Connecticut.[7] His family is Jewish.[8] He completed his BA at Brown University with double majors in English and American literature and in history (1995).[9] He has seven master's degrees from:

• Brown (Bachelor of Arts) English and History (MA in European history, 1996),[10]
• Columbia University (MA in American history, 1998, and MPhil, 2000),[11]
• New York University (MFA in creative writing with a focus in fiction, 2000),[12][13][14][15]
• Albany Medical College, constituent of the Union University of New York (MS in bioethics, 2012), and then completed his
• MFA in playwriting from Queens College of the City University of New York (2013)[16] and
• MPH from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (2014)[17][18]

He holds a JD from Harvard Law School (2003)[19][20][21] and an MD from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (2009).[22] He completed his residency and fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and is a practicing psychiatrist there.[23][24] He is also licensed to practice law in New York and Rhode Island.[25]

Appel is a "prolific"[26] short story writer.

His fiction has been published in two hundred fifteen[1] literary journals including Agni,[27] The Alaska Quarterly Review,[28] The Gettysburg Review,[29] The Missouri Review,[30] Shenandoah, StorySouth[31] and Virginia Quarterly Review.[32]

His first story collection, Scouting for the Reaper, won Black Lawrence Press's Hudson Prize in 2012.[33] Among the other awards he has won for his short stories are those sponsored by the Boston Review (1998)[34] and New Millennium Writings (2004, 2007, 2008).[35][36][37]

He won the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Award for best short story in 2004[38] and a Sherwood Anderson Foundation grant in 2005.[39] His fiction has been short-listed for the O. Henry Prize (2001),[40] Best American Short Stories (2007,[41] 2008,[42] 2013), Best American Nonrequired Reading (2006,[43] 2007[44]), Best American Mystery Stories (2009)[45] and the Pushcart Prize (2006,[46] 2007,[47] 2011,[48] 2014,[49] 2019[50]).

His debut novel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up, won the 2012 Dundee International Book Prize and was published by Cargo in October 2012.[51][52] It was described as a "A darkly comic satire, full of insight into American culture" by Stephen Fry and "engaging, funny, ingenious, even charming" by Philip Pullman.[53] His book subsequently won The International Rubery Book Award in 2013.

His plays have been performed by companies across the U.S., including the Detroit Repertory Theatre, Heller Theatre, and Epilogue Players.[54][55]

Appel has taught creative writing at the Gotham Writers' Workshop and New York University.[56] He served as Writer-in-Residence at Yeshiva College in 2013.[57]

• The Resurrection of Dismas and Gestas (2005)[108]
• In the Floodplain (2005)
• Arborophilia (2006)
• The Three Belles of Eden (2006)[109]
• Thirds (2007)[110]
• The Mistress of Wholesome (2007)
• The Replacement (2008)[111]
• Woodpecker (2008)
• Causa Mortis (2009)[112]
• Helen of Sparta (2009)[113]

• The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up (Cargo, 2012)[51][52]
• The Biology of Luck (Elephant Rock, 2013)
• Scouting for the Reaper (Black Lawrence, 2014)
• Phoning Home (University of South Carolina Press, 2014)
• Einstein's Beach House (Pressgang/Butler University, 2014)
• The Magic Laundry (Snake Nation, 2015)
• Miracles and Conundrums of the Secondary Planets (Black Lawrence, 2015)
• Wedding Wipeout (Cozy Cat Press, 2013)
• The Topless Widow of Herkimer Street (Howling Bird Press/Augsburg College, 2016)
• Coulrophobia & Fata Morgana (Black Lawrence, 2016)
• The Mask of Sanity (Permanent Press, 2017)
• The Liars' Asylum (Black Lawrence Press, 2017)
• Millard Salter's Last Day (Gallery Books, 2017)
• The Amazing Mr. Morality (Vandalia Press/West Virginia University, 2018)
• The Cynic in Extremis: Poems (Able Muse, 2018)
• Amazing Things Are Happening Here (Black Lawrence, 2019)
• Surrendering Appomattox (C&R, 2019)
• Who Says You're Dead? (Algonquin, 2019)

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Jacob M. Appel

• Appel's Biography at his website