Ben Fountain

Ben Fountain is an American fiction writer whose debut novel became one of the most celebrated literary debuts of the twenty-first century. Born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he practiced law briefly before turning to fiction writing. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2012), his debut novel, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the LA Times Book Prize for Fiction, and the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award. The novel follows a squad of Iraq War soldiers during a halftime ceremony at a Dallas Cowboys game, delivering a scathing portrait of American militarism, celebrity culture, and patriotism. It was adapted into a film by Ang Lee in 2016. Fountain won the Joyce Carol Oates Prize in 2024. His short story collection Brief Encounters with Che Guevara (2006) won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Whiting Award and established his reputation as a writer of global scope. Devil Makes Three (2024), his second novel, explores the Haitian earthquake of 2010. Fountain spent the years before Billy Lynn's publication reading widely, traveling to Haiti, and perfecting his craft, becoming a late-bloomer model for serious literary ambition. He lives in Dallas, Texas, and is widely considered one of the most important voices in American political fiction.