Emerson Whitney by Char Bataille 2024

Emerson Whitney is the author of three critically acclaimed books, Heaven (McSweeney’s, 2020), Daddy Boy (McSweeney’s 2023), and the poetry title, Ghost Box (Timeless Infinite Light, 2014). In 2024, Daddy Boy won the Maine Literary Award for Memoir. Emerson’s next book, Haunt Me Please, is forthcoming with McSweeney’s in 2026. Emerson is well known for his experiments in memoir and creative nonfiction, blending a background in journalism with literary theory and an unrivaled vulnerability and honesty in paired-down, poetic prose. He sees his work in memoir as a life-long durational project–his favorite thing is the line, and believes the subjective “I” is the most exciting frame.

Emerson’s work has appeared in The Paris Review, New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Review of Books and elsewhere. Kirkus, in a starred review, called Heaven “An incisive, nuanced inquiry into gender and body.” The Paris Review called Emerson “…a deft executor of their own unique style… a writer who guides with an intuitive vulnerability and honesty.” In a second review, Kirkus compared Emerson to Gertrude Stein, and said that they “energetically and incisively captures all of that complexity and more, demonstrating a kindred spirit to Stein’s but emerging with a voice all their own.”

Emerson is grateful to live Downeast with his family: his wife, his best friend, and a mess of dogs. He holds a PhD from the European Graduate School, completed a postdoc as the Dana and David Dornsife Fellow in Gender Studies at the University of Southern California in 2020, and is professor emeritus in creative writing at Goddard College as of 2024.

Both Heaven and Daddy Boy were acquired by Cipher Press in the UK in 2023, check out those editions here!

Emerson is represented by Tim Wojick at Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency, please contact Tim with any inquiries.