Trivia

Only reads novels of dead writers such as Franz Kafka or Henry James and non-fiction books.

Taught at the Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa.

Winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, for "American Pastoral".

Has been a candidate to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for many years.

He graduated from Weequahic High School the Weequahic section of Newark, New Jersey.

His estranged wife Margaret Martinson was killed in a car crash in Central Park in New York City. The man who was responsible for her death attended her funeral.

Son of Bess (Finkel) and Herman Roth. His parents were born in New Jersey, and his grandparents were all Jewish emigrants (from Galicia and Russia).

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Vol. 132, pp. 323-334. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1998 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.

Had taught creative writing and comparative literature at several universities, before he finally retired in 1992.

After earning a degree in English at Bucknell University, he studied at the University of Chicago, receiving an M.A. in English literature.

His first wife Margaret Martinson, who died in 1968, five years after her separation from Roth, is the inspiration for several characters such as Maureen in "My Life as A Man" (1974).

Former stepfather of opera singer Anna Steiger.

Won the National Book Award twice, in 1960 for "Goodbye, Columbus" and in 1995 for "Sabbath's Theater".

Owns homes in New York's Upper West Side and Connecticut.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Volume 170, pages 349-361. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2008.

He was nominated for the 2008 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his services and contributions to Literature.

He was inducted into the 2010 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his services and contributions to Literature.

He was born in Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey.

He was awarded the 2010 National Humanities Medal for his contributions to American letters. He is the author of 24 novels, including "Portnoy's Complaint" and "American Pastoral," which won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize, and his criticism has appeared in literary journals.

He celebrated his 75th birthday with friends and colleagues at the Miller Theater at Columbia University in New York City. (March 2008)

He splits his time between New York City and Warren, Connecticut where he has residences. (March 2007)

Friends with Ross Miller, son of Kermit Miller, and nephew of Arthur Miller, and Joan Copeland. Miller has served as Roth's editor on 3 books of short stories.

In film and television, characters who were meant to stand-in for Roth have been played by Richard Benjamin (in Goodbye, Columbus and Portnoy's Complaint), Gary Sinise (in The Human Stain), Ben Kingsley (in Elegy), Al Pacino (in The Humbling), David Strathairn (in American Pastoral), Logan Lerman (in Indignation), and Azhy Robertson (in The Plot Against America (2020)).

The most successful feature film adaptation of his work is still the first one, Goodbye, Columbus (1969), which was a huge box office hit in 1969 and made newcomer Ali MacGraw a star. According to producer Stanley R. Jaffe, Roth first was skeptical about a film adaptation and didn't really support it. Jaffe: "Then he saw the movie on his own - paid three dollars, or whatever it cost then - and called to tell me, 'There are things that are better about the movie and things that aren't as good, Then he asked me to introduce him to Ali MacGraw." Roth later often said that it was his favorite of all the films based on his work [Hollywood Reporter, May 2018].

Brother of Sandy Roth.