Lorin Stein: The Most Famous Literary Figure You've Never Heard Of

Lorin Stein is one of the most famous figures in literature today, and chances are, you have never heard of him. His fingerprints are all over the 2007 National Book Award for fiction, and yet, he is not the author of any of the nominated works.

Stein is an editor at the publishing house of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. In a remarkable show of literary muscle, three of the five nominees for fiction in this month's National Book Award competition were published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Even more remarkably, all three of those nominated books were edited by Lorin Stein. To put this accomplishment in perspective, try to imagine a single director capturing the Best Picture nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for three separate movies in the same year.

The editing talent of Stein is evident in "Tree of Smoke," the highly praised novel by Denis Johnson which grapples with Vietnam, as well as "Fieldwork," a mystery set in Thailand by Mischa Berlinski, and "Varieties of Disturbance," a collection of short stories by minimalist Lydia Davis.

Who is this literary Superman? Stein is a 34-year-old who has been described as "an intense, slightly built man." He was raised in Washington, D.C. and attended the exclusive Sidwell Friends School, a private Quaker prep school known for its highly competitive admission process and its particularly strong English Department. Beltway alumni through the years have included Chelsea Clinton, Albert Gore III and Tricia and Julie Nixon. At Sidwell Friends, Stein joined the staff of the school literary magazine. After college graduation, he worked at Publisher's Weekly magazine. He joined Ferrar, Straus & Giroux in 1998 where perhaps three-quarters of the projects he works on are non-fiction, making his trio of National Book Award nominations all in fiction this year even more amazing. Stein is an occasional contributor to literary publications such as The New York Review of Books, The London Review of Books and Salon.com.

Lorin Stein (left), editor at the publishing house of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, shown here with his sister Anna Stein (right), a specialist in foreign book rights.

Credit: Michael Lowa

Copyright: New York Times