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Health & Fitness

Sarah Lawrence College's Dan Zevin Recognized as Best Humor Author for 2013 by Thurber House

Dan Zevin, a Writing Institute instructor at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, has won the 2013 Thurber Prize for American Humor for his book Dan Gets a Minivan: Life at the Intersection of Dude and Dad. Past recipients include David Sedaris, Calvin Trillin, and Christopher Buckley.

Thurber House is the only national organization in the United States that judges and recognizes outstanding achievements in humor writing. The award is named after the late James Thurber, author, humorist and New Yorker magazine cover cartoonist.

In his book, Zevin documents the transition from couplehood to familyhood, and from city life to suburban life. Comedian/actor Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions has bought the rights to his book, which includes riffs on shopping at Costco, pre-scheduling date nights with his wife, and learning to love his minivan ("the car that dare not speak its name").

Zevin has taught at NYU and Fordham as well as at Sarah Lawrence's Writing Institute. He has written humor pieces for digital and print publications including the New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Salon.com.

He is becoming a sought-after guest speaker at conferences and fundraisers, and is slated to speak this season in Tennessee, Texas, and New Jersey, where he grew up in Short Hills, "a town famous for a shopping mall," he noted. 

He said pursuing a career in writing humor had been his life-long ambition. "I decided it in third grade," he said, "when I realized I couldn't add, subtract, multiply or divide. But I could always make my friends laugh at my booger jokes." 

Zevin received a degree in journalism from N.Y.U. After graduation, he was hired by Walking Magazine, now defunct, as its gear and equipment editor. He is also the author of three other comedy books, including The Day I Turned Uncool, which was also purchased by Happy Madison Productions.

What's next? "I've written funny books about each phase of life from post-college coping to becoming a suburban dad," he said. "So I think my next book needs to be called How To Have a Midlife Crisis."

Zevin can be followed on Twitter and "liked" on Facebook. "Please like me  on Facebook even if you hate me in real life," he asks.

The Zevins live in Larchmont and have two children, Leo, 10, and Josie, 7.

Sarah Lawrence College is at 1 Mead Way, Bronxville, NY 10708, 914-337-0700, www.slc.edu

Thurber House is located at 77 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43215, 614-464-1032, www.thurberhouse.org

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