Nicholson Baker
1957
Born on the seventh of January 1957, Nicholson Baker is an American essayist and novelist. As his trademark, Baker places more emphasis on careful characterization and description, with the focus on the inspection of narrators’ and characters’ stream of consciousness. Born in the city of New York, Nicholson Baker spent his early life in Rochester. He briefly studied at the Eastman School of Music and later joined Haverford College where he received a Bachelorette of Art in English. His works cover multiple genres and topics, such as literature, poetry, history, library systems, politics, youth, sex, and time manipulation. The novelist is an ardent critic of what he considers as pointless obliteration of paper-based media by libraries. His vehement articles critical of various public libraries featured in The New Yorker. In recognition of his unrelenting efforts, he received James Madison Freedom of Information Award in 1997. In 1999, the novelist founded the American Newspaper Repository, a not-for-profit corporation, as an archive of old newspapers. In his Double Fold (2001), Baker accuses librarians of disregarding their roles and their obsession with technology, at the expense of historical and public preservation.Writing Career