Neal Karlen is an American journalist, memoirist and author of nine books, currently living in Minneapolis. He is a former Contributing Editor for Rolling Stone, former Associate Editor at Newsweek, longtime contributor to The New York Times; and on-air essayist for several CBS News magazine shows. He has published profiles and personal essays in The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, The Washington Post, New York, and Slate.
Karlen grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and attended St. Louis Park High School. [1] He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and won the American Historical Society Prize for his senior thesis. [2]
Karlen has been a contributing author to many well-known magazines, including Newsweek, The New York Times, [3] and Rolling Stone. [4] [5] He most recently published "This Thing Called Life" about Prince, which Publishers Weekly named one of the top ten biographies and memoirs of the 2020 season. [6] Rolling Stone reprinted a chapter upon publication, praising Karlen, the musician’s "longtime confidant" for telling “the story not just of Prince's life, but of a rare decades long friendship between a writer and an iconic artist"; [7] The Star Tribune, the musician’s hometown paper, called Karlen’s work "easily the most telling book about the late Prince." [8] Karlen’s other books, including several national bestsellers, vary in topic ranging from vaudeville ("Take My Life, Please"); religious assimilation ("Shanda"); minor league baseball ("Slouching Toward Fargo"); the intersection between politics and organized crime ("Augie’s Secrets") and linguistics ("The Story of Yiddish").
In September 2023 he was featured prominently in the Netflix film The Saint of Second Chances directed by Academy Award winning documentarian Morgan Neville ("20 Feet From Stardom") and Jeff Malmberg. [9] Besides appearing in several other documentaries and television programs, Karlen was portrayed as Prince's closest confidant by Cornelius Geaney, Jr. in British ITV's 2017 biopic, The Prince Story. [10]
Neal was the recipient of the CASEY Award in 1999 for his book Slouching Toward Fargo.
Neal Karlen is an American journalist, memoirist and author of nine books, currently living in Minneapolis. He is a former Contributing Editor for Rolling Stone, former Associate Editor at Newsweek, longtime contributor to The New York Times; and on-air essayist for several CBS News magazine shows. He has published profiles and personal essays in The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, The Washington Post, New York, and Slate.
Karlen grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and attended St. Louis Park High School. [1] He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and won the American Historical Society Prize for his senior thesis. [2]
Karlen has been a contributing author to many well-known magazines, including Newsweek, The New York Times, [3] and Rolling Stone. [4] [5] He most recently published "This Thing Called Life" about Prince, which Publishers Weekly named one of the top ten biographies and memoirs of the 2020 season. [6] Rolling Stone reprinted a chapter upon publication, praising Karlen, the musician’s "longtime confidant" for telling “the story not just of Prince's life, but of a rare decades long friendship between a writer and an iconic artist"; [7] The Star Tribune, the musician’s hometown paper, called Karlen’s work "easily the most telling book about the late Prince." [8] Karlen’s other books, including several national bestsellers, vary in topic ranging from vaudeville ("Take My Life, Please"); religious assimilation ("Shanda"); minor league baseball ("Slouching Toward Fargo"); the intersection between politics and organized crime ("Augie’s Secrets") and linguistics ("The Story of Yiddish").
In September 2023 he was featured prominently in the Netflix film The Saint of Second Chances directed by Academy Award winning documentarian Morgan Neville ("20 Feet From Stardom") and Jeff Malmberg. [9] Besides appearing in several other documentaries and television programs, Karlen was portrayed as Prince's closest confidant by Cornelius Geaney, Jr. in British ITV's 2017 biopic, The Prince Story. [10]
Neal was the recipient of the CASEY Award in 1999 for his book Slouching Toward Fargo.