Born June 26: Stephen McCauley

On tour for his funny, sad, and moving sixth novel, Insignificant Others [Kindle] Stephen McCauley said he felt he had taken the comedy of manners as far as he could go. That news was at once terrifying and understandable, after his superb True Enough, his effervescent debut, The Object of My Affection, and the unbroken string of remarkable, underappreciated books in between. So perhaps readers ought to have anticipated McCauley would go the way of John Banville's Benjamin Black or Agatha Christie's Mary Westmacott or Joyce Carol Oates' Rosamond Smith, exploring a different genre with the freedom of a new name. If his own books are fine feature films, his Rain Mitchell series of yoga novels are glorious television: big, bright, walloping delights. Start with Tales from the Yoga Studio then shift positions to Head Over Heels. You must also read his riveting, knockout piece, "Let's Say," about his uneasy truce with his difficult, antigay father in Patrick Merla's collection Boys Like Us. A couple as handsome as they are talented, McCauley and longtime partner Sebastian Stuart (a Ferro-Grumley Award winner for The Hour Between) live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Comments

[Bob Smith]

Stephen and Sebstian are not only great writers, but incredibly compassionate and generous me. Oh, and hysterically funny too!

[Bob Smith]

I wish I wasn't the worst typist on Earth!