Draft:Sam Sussman
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| Submission declined on 16 August 2025 by MCE89 (talk). This submission's references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article—that is, they do not show significant coverage (not just passing mentions) about the subject in published, reliable, secondary sources that are independent of the subject (see the guidelines on the notability of people). Before any resubmission, additional references meeting these criteria should be added (see technical help and learn about mistakes to avoid when addressing this issue). If no additional references exist, the subject is not suitable for Wikipedia.
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This draft has been resubmitted and is currently awaiting re-review. |  |
Comment: One review of his book is not enough to satisfy Wikipedia's notability criteria for authors. Are there any other reviews or commentary on his work? MCE89 (talk) 15:07, 16 August 2025 (UTC)
Sam Sussman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1991 (age 33–34) |
| Alma mater | Swarthmore College (B.A.) University of Oxford (M.Phil) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable work | Boy from the North Country (2025) |
| Website | www |
Sam Sussman is an American writer. His debut novel, Boy from the North Country, is based on his Harper’s Magazine memoir, “The Silent Type: On (Possibly) Being Bob Dylan’s Son.”[1] The novel was reviewed in Kirkus as “the most beautiful and moving mother-son story in recent memory.” [2]
Early Life
[edit]Sussman grew up with his mother on fourteen acres in the woods in the Hudson Valley. His mother, Fran Sussman, was a holistic health practitioner, educator, and writer.[3] Sussman has said that literature was “a love language between my mother and me.” [4]
Education
[edit]Sussman studied one year at SUNY Binghamton and one year at Christ Church, Oxford, before transferring to Swarthmore College.[5] He returned to Oxford to complete an M.Phil, writing a dissertation on Rousseau.[6] While at Oxford, Sussman was an active member of the Oxford Union. [7]
Sussman has lived in Berlin and Jerusalem and taught writing and literature seminars in England, India, Peru, and Chile.[8] While living in England, Sussman won the BAFTA New Writing Award for original screenplay. [6] Sussman is a member of PEN America and has participated in the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature three times.[9]
Boy from the North Country
[edit]Boy From the North Country is an autofictional novel based on Sussman’s Harper’s Magazine memoir essay, “The Silent Type: On (Possibly) Being Bob Dylan’s Son."
Kirkus called the novel “the most beautiful and moving mother-son story in recent memory.” [2]
Tony Kushner called the novel, “A penetratingly observed exploration of loss and grief, healing and mortality, theology, philosophy, and above all, art—of art as origin and salvation, art as community, seduction, fame, power, holiness. Its language is unguardedly personal, at times uncomfortably intimate, accumulating over and over into moments of stunning poetic force, revelatory insight, heartbreak and wisdom.”[10]
David Yaffe, author of Like A Complete Unknown, said the novel was, “A monumental event for anyone who cares about Dylan. More meaningfully, the book transforms into an emotionally moving story of what it means to love a mother and be a son. Sussman has written one of the Great Millennial Novels and proved himself an inheritor of Dylan’s lyrical tradition.” [10]
The novel also received praise from Vivian Gornick, Ayad Akhtar, Maria Semple, and Aminatta Forna. [10]
Human Rights Activism
[edit]Sussman co-founded Extend[11], an NGO that brings Americans to Israel-Palestine to meet human rights activists working toward a democratic future.[12] Extend has been featured in the New York Times[13] and at the United Nations.[11]
Personal Life
[edit]Sussman lives between his childhood home in the Hudson Valley and the walk-up apartment in Yorkville, Manhattan, in which his mother first lived in the early 1970s and much of Boy from the North Country takes place.[14] Dylan wrote parts of Blood on the Tracks in the apartment.[15]
References
[edit]- ^ "The Silent Type, by Sam Sussman". Harper's Magazine. Archived from the original on 2025-03-25. Retrieved 2025-07-28.
- ^ a b BOY FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY | Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ "Fran Sussman Holistic Services". Fran Sussman Holistic Services. Retrieved 2025-07-28.
- ^ Seidel |, Matt. "Writers to Watch: Fall 2025". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2025-07-28.
- ^ "Sam Sussman | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2025-07-29.
- ^ a b "2017-2018 Frank 5 Fellow: Wildcard". Aydelotte. Retrieved 2025-07-28.
- ^ OxfordUnion (2016-06-25). Two-State Solution Debate | Sam Sussman | Opposition. Retrieved 2025-08-07 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sam Evan Sussman". Sam Evan Sussman. Retrieved 2025-07-28.
- ^ "Sam Sussman". PEN World Voices Festival. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
- ^ a b c "Boy from the North Country by Sam Sussman: 9780593835050 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2025-07-28.
- ^ a b "Learn With Us in Israel-Palestine". Extend. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
- ^ Emont, Jon (2014-08-01). "The West Bank by Bus". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
- ^ "Opinion | I Fought for the I.D.F. in Gaza. It Made Me Fight for Peace. (Published 2023)". 2023-10-28. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
- ^ "A Novelist Asks: Am I Bob Dylan's Son?". 2025-09-04. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
- ^ "Sam Sussman thinks Bob Dylan might be his dad – and he's written a book about it". The Independent. 2025-09-03. Retrieved 2025-09-05.