I knew my writing students were using AI. Their confessions led to a powerful teaching moment
Selected for the Guardian’s Five Great Reads, May 2026.
The Guardian · May 10, 2026
Selected Essays and criticism
- The Paris ReviewTuesday’s Child
- The Paris ReviewCheddar, Cheever, and the Burbs
- Vanity FairRemembering River Phoenix
- Vanity FairOn Warhol
- Vanity FairPretty in Pink at 30
- Vanity FairAlan Rickman’s Hans Gruber
- Vanity FairSouthern Comfort Food in Paris
- VICEInside the Heart of Amateur Boxing
- Little White LiesEnter the Dragon at 50
- SITESnapshots in the Context of Forever
- Free InquiryA Dead Fox and Other Revelations
- HiLoBrowOn Patrick Bateman
Short fiction
- Glimmer TrainIn Search of Absolutely Nothing
- Glimmer TrainQuarry
- Gettysburg ReviewOne Act
- Bellingham ReviewThe Love Life of Tigers
- DIAGRAMSimulacrum
Photograph by Massimo Contini
About
Micah Nathan is a novelist and essayist whose books have sold more than 200,000 copies worldwide. He is the author of Gods of Aberdeen (Simon & Schuster, 2005), Losing Graceland (Crown / Random House, 2011), and the collection Jack the Bastard and Other Stories.
His fiction and essays have appeared in The Guardian, Vanity Fair, The Paris Review, Glimmer Train, Little White Lies, Kinfolk, and elsewhere. His fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Mystery Stories, and his work has received the Boston University Saul Bellow Prize in Fiction and the Associated Press Short Essay Award. He also teaches fiction and nonfiction writing at MIT.
Selected honors
- FictionBoston University - Saul Bellow Prize in Fiction
- AnthologyBest American Mystery Stories
- EssayAssociated Press Short Essay Award
- FinalistTobias Wolff Award for Short Fiction
DIAGRAM Innovative Fiction Award
Inquiries
For editorial commissions, readings, speaking, teaching, and narrative consulting, inquiries may be directed through MIT’s directory.
Other Work
- Games & narrativeLead writer and narrative designer on Shadowgun (Unity Game of the Year) and other commercial titles.
- Consortium9Co-founder and Chief Narrative Officer
- LEMON: King of PopHead Copy Editor and Fiction Editor
2013 D&AD Wood Pencil, Magazine & Newspaper Design - Piermont & ThorneAn ongoing fictional archive and narrative-world project