Michael David Lukas

Biography

Michael David Lukas has been a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey, a proofreader in Tel Aviv, and a waiter at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Vermont. A graduate of Brown University and the University of Maryland, his writing has been published in Slate, National Geographic Traveler, Tikkun, the Boston Globe, and Georgia Review. He just completed a novel about the end of the Ottoman Empire, to be published by HarperCollins.

http://www.michaeldavidlukas.com/

See Work

ESSAYS

A Meditation on Roast Chicken

By Michael David Lukas

Just as a bottle of wine is enhanced by knowledge of its production and provenance, food is enriched by a sustained meditation on the life it once was and a reverence for all the work that brought it to the table.

PROFILES

An Elegy for José Saramago, in His Own Words

By Michael David Lukas

Instead of singing his praises, perhaps it is best to let his words sing for themselves.

CRITICISM

The Rise of Written Author Interviews

By Michael David Lukas

Written interviews are just one of many small changes we must reckon with as publishing and literature sail into uncharted territory.

ESSAYS

Writing the Next Generation of American War Literature

By Michael David Lukas

Short stories, poems, and essays written by Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans in MFA workshops.

ESSAYS / Spring 2010

Workshopping the Next Generation of American War Literature

By Michael David Lukas
CRITICISM

Why I am Subscribing to Poets & Writers Magazine, Right Now

By Michael David Lukas

The internet is filled with gossip, hucksterism, schlock, back-biting, and valueless aggregation about the publishing industry. Poets & Writers magazine is a diamond in the junk.

ESSAYS

What’s in a (Middle) Name?

By Michael David Lukas

Consider the difference between James Cooper and James Fenimore Cooper; David Wallace and David Foster Wallace; or Jorge Luis Borges and Jorge Borges. Who would want to go down in history as Jorge Borges?

CRITICISM

The Best of the Best Books of 2009

By Michael David Lukas

While here are only two freestanding book reviews in this fair country, we do have a wealth of best book lists. Here is a meta-list: The Best of the Best Books of 2009.

ESSAYS

Where Should a Billionaire Give? Where Should I?

By Michael David Lukas

Does the motivation behind my philanthropic giving matter? If so, is it wrong to give out of guilt?

REPORTING

9 Counties? 8 Bridges? 7 Million People?

By Michael David Lukas

The biggest problem with The New York Times’ new Bay Area section is that it acts like a foreign desk, treating the region like a surprisingly cosmopolitan colonial outpost.