J. C. Hallman grew up in Southern California. He studied creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh, the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is the author of THE CHESS ARTIST, THE DEVIL IS A GENTLEMANT, THE HOSPITAL FOR BAD POETS, IN UTOPIA and WM & H'RY. Hallman has also edited two anthologies, THE STORY ABOUT THE STORY  and THE STORY ABOUT THE STORY II, which propose a new school of literary response called “creative criticism.” Among other honors, he is the recipient of a 2013 Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.

Books by J. C. Hallman

B & Me: A True Story of Literary Arousal

by J. C. Hallman - Memoir, Nonfiction

Nearly 25 years ago, Nicholson Baker published U AND I, the groundbreaking tale of his literary relationship with John Updike. U AND I inspired a whole sub-genre of engaging, entertaining writing about reading, but what no story of this type has ever done is tell its tale from the moment of conception, that moment when you realize that there is a writer out there in the world who you must read. B & ME is that story, the story of J.C. Hallman discovering and reading Nicholson Baker --- and discovering himself in the process.