John McNally

I grew up in Burbank, Illinois, and now write books. Check 'em out.
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I grew up on the southwest side of Chicago (Burbank, if you must know) and am now a writer. I've written three books of fiction and edited five anthologies. I write a lot about the Chicago area. (The Book of Ralph, my first novel, is set in Burbank in the late '70s, for instance.) I spent a year recently in L.A. with a screenwriting fellowship from the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project, sponsored by Paramount Pictures. I've taught at universities all over the country (Illinois; Iowa; Nebraska; Wisconsin; Colorado; Florida; D.C.). I was recently the Visiting Writer at Columbia College Chicago (spring 2007). My full-time job is associate professor of English at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
THE NEW ANTHOLOGY!
ON SALE NOW!
WHEN I WAS A LOSER: TRUE STORIES OF (BARELY) SURVIVING HIGH SCHOOL
from ELLE Magazine (March 2007)
"When I Was a Loser, edited by novelist John McNally (America’s Report Card), gathers some two dozen winning recollections by Julianna Baggott, Will Clarke, Brad Land and others who look back with humor, embarrassment, and even grudging affection on how they survived their high school years packed with bad hairdos, boring family vacations, backstabbing best friends, and other painful rites and rituals of adolescence."
from PASTE MAGAZINE
"High school wasn’t the 'best time' of these writers’ lives--but it surely has made for the best kind of reading material: In this collection, high school never sucks the same way twice."
from TIME OUT CHICAGO
"The editor, novelist John McNally, is an old hand when it comes to editing literary anthologies...and he clearly knows what he’s doing. There’s awkward sex, bullying, partying and crushes, all in spades, but it’s the quality of the writing that makes so many of these essays unusual. Altogether, it makes for the best topical anthology we’ve read in a long time."
TROUBLEMAKERS (U. of Iowa Press, 2000)
"Troublemakers confirms McNally's status as a major and exciting new talent."
--The Capital Times (Madison, WI)
"John McNally has that rare gift of achieving both humor and poignancy, and his ability to evoke the personal past in all its delicious detail makes one think of an American Roddy Doyle."
--T.C. Boyle, author of Talk Talk
"Troublemakers consists of 11 incredibly rendered stories of boys and men who have been marginalized. While the stories are connected by McNally's searing, darkly comic style of storytelling, each one develops a fresh set of characters and demonstrates a new dimension to the author's fierce prose and controlled craft."
--San Francisco Bay Guardian
THE BOOK OF RALPH (Free Press/Simon and Schuster, 2004)
"This book is charming, sensitive, and at times flat out hysterical. I knew kids like Ralph--and they scared me--but none of them had his heart, his humor, or ultimately his entertaining story. I hated to say goodbye at the end of the book."
--Mitch Albom, author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven
"The Book of Ralph should earn John McNally the wider audience that his talent and wit deserve."
--Chicago Tribune
"John McNally's vivid, skewed characters, his vibrant prose and hilarious situations make The Book of Ralph, with its undercurrent of menace, a serious joy."
--Richard Russo, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Empire Falls
AMERICA'S REPORT CARD (Free Press/Simon and Schuster, 2006)
"It has been a long time since I've been so excited, provoked and haunted by a novel as I have been by America's Report Card. I want to run out and buy multiple copies--for my kids' teachers, my co-workers...even my stupid senator. I flat-out can't wait to talk about this book, which is a brilliant, laugh-out-loud satire of contemporary American life with a tender, angry heart and enormous compassion for the little guy. You've got to read it. John McNally is emerging as one of the best American writers of the new century."
--Dan Chaon, author of You Remind Me of Me
"At last - a post 9/11 novel with imagination, guts and integrity, and one that actually shows real people being sucked into the American nightmare. John McNally is a marvelous writer and should be applauded for producing this timely, stylish and often hilarious book."
--Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting
"Say this for John McNally: He ventures where other writers might fear to tread. AMERICA'S REPORT CARD is a gutsy, highly entertaining and thought-provoking satire for these troubled times."
--Seattle Post-Intelligencer
And, at the risk of completely cluttering up this page, here are my other four anthologies...
Check out my website for more details, writing advice, and book tour information.