Tracy Kidder

Tracy Kidder
Tracy Kidder at the College of Wooster, 2009.
Born	(1945-11-12) November 12, 1945 (age 71) New York City
Alma mater	Harvard University University of Iowa
Genre	Non-fiction
Literary movement	Literary journalism
Notable works	The Soul of a New Machine, Mountains Beyond Mountains
Notable awards	Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction 1982 The Soul of a New Machine
Children	Daniel Minnich, Alice

John Tracy Kidder (born November 12, 1945) is an American writer of nonfiction books. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his The Soul of a New Machine (1981), about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation. He has received praise and awards for other works, including his biography of Paul Farmer, a doctor and anthropologist, titled Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003).

Kidder is considered a literary journalist because of the strong story line and personal voice in his writing. He has cited as his writing influences John McPhee, A. J. Liebling, and George Orwell. In a 1984 interview he said, "McPhee has been my model. He's the most elegant of all the journalists writing today, I think."

Kidder wrote in a 1994 essay, "In fiction, believability may have nothing to do with reality or even plausibility. It has everything to do with those things in nonfiction. I think that the nonfiction writer's fundamental job is to make what is true believable."

John Tracy Kidder was born November 12, 1945, in New York City. He graduated from Phillips Academy in 1963. He attended Harvard University, originally majoring in political science but switching to English after taking a course in creative writing from Robert Fitzgerald. He received a BA degree from Harvard in 1967.

Kidder served in the United States Army as a first lieutenant, Military Intelligence, Vietnam, from 1967 to 1969. After returning from Vietnam, he wrote for some time and was admitted to the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He received an MFA degree from the University of Iowa in 1974.