Andrew Solomon

Andrew Solomon is an American writer and lecturer on politics, culture, and psychology, and a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University Medical Center. He is best known for his landmark books on human difference and mental health. Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity (2012), a decade-long project, examines how parents and children navigate profound differences—including deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, and criminal behavior—between them. The book won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the National Books Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the Wellcome Book Prize, and the American Library Association's Notable Book designation, among many other honors. Solomon's earlier book, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression (2001), won the National Book Award for Nonfiction and is widely considered one of the definitive works on depression. He is also the author of Far and Away (2016), a collection of essays on global politics and culture. Solomon serves as president of PEN American Center and has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and many other publications. He lives in New York and London with his husband and three children. He is also a prominent advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and mental health.