Paul Harding

Paul Harding (born 1967) is an American musician and author. He is best known for his debut novel, Tinkers, which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2010 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, among other honors. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Emerson College.

Early life and education Harding grew up on the North Shore of the Boston area in the town of Wenham, Massachusetts. In his youth, he spent a lot of time "knocking about in the woods," to which he attributes his love of nature. His grandfather repaired clocks, and he apprenticed under him, an experience that found its way into his first novel, Tinkers.

Career After graduating from the University of Massachusetts, he spent time touring with his band Cold Water Flat in the US and Europe. He had always been a heavy reader, and recalls reading Carlos Fuentes' Terra Nostra and thinking "this is what I want to do." In that book, Harding "saw the entire world, all of history." When he next had time off from touring with the band he signed up for a summer writing class at Skidmore College in New York. His teacher was Marilynne Robinson, and through her he learned about the Iowa Writers' Workshop writing program. There, he studied with Barry Unsworth, Elizabeth McCracken, and later Robinson. At some point, he realized some of the people he admired most were "profoundly religious," so he spent years reading theology and was "deeply" influenced by Karl Barth and John Calvin. He considers himself a "self-taught modern New England transcendentalist."

Harding's second novel, Enon (2013), concerns characters from his first novel, Tinkers, looking at the lives of George Crosby's grandson, Charlie Crosby, and his daughter Kate.

He has taught writing at Harvard University and the University of Iowa. as well as interim associate provost of Stony Brook University's Lichtenstein Center. In September 2024, Harding began teaching in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College, where he is a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing.

Awards and honors Year Title Award Category Result . Tinkers Center for Fiction First Novel Prize — Los Angeles Times Book Prize First Fiction PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize — Pulitzer Prize Fiction International Dublin Literary Award — 2012—Fernanda Pivano Award— Enon Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Fiction Jan Michalski Prize — Maine Readers' Choice Award — This Other Eden Booker Prize — National Book Award Fiction International Dublin Literary Award — Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award —

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