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Saul A. Lelchuk '05
Saul A. Lelchuk '05 graduated cum laude from Amherst College with a degree in English and holds an M.A. in Liberal Studies and Creative Writing from Dartmouth College, where he is a Visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing within the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies. He has taught and edited both fiction and nonfiction writing, and served as a mentor for the PEN American Center Prison Writing Program. Lelchukâs debut novel, Save Me From Dangerous Men, was published in 2019. The book has been optioned for film and television, the foreign rights have sold in many regions around the world, and it has been translated into multiple languages. Lelchuk is a member of the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) and International Thriller Writers (ITW) and makes regular appearances as a panelist discussing mystery and crime writing at literary festivals and events around the country. He divides his time between Berkeley, California and Hanover, New Hampshire. His next book will be out in winter 2021. (Photo credit: Eli Burakian, Dartmouth College)
Current Home
Berkeley, CA
Place of Birth
Northampton, MA
Education
Amherst College, BA,
Dartmouth College, MA
Why did you choose to come to Amherst?
In short, two words: Johnson Chapel. Even as a senior in high school, I really felt that for a would-be English major, there was no better place to pursue my education. As someone whose best friend was never the periodic table, I confess the Open Curriculum also held distinct appeal.
Most memorable or most influential class at Amherst
I would not feel right naming just one. Survey of Russian Lit with Stanley Rabinotwitz, Murder with Austin Sarat, American Lit 1950-onwards with William Pritchard, Poetry 1950-onwards with David Sofield
Most memorable or most influential professor
I would say that David Sofield and William Pritchard had the greatest influence on me.
Research Interests?
Recently I started preliminary work on a nonfiction book that has required extensive research into Civil War-era events and figures. I am also involved as a writer on an upcoming TV series -- a geopolitical thriller that requires travel and research everywhere from the Mid-East to the '90's-era Balkans
Awards and Prizes
Save Me From Dangerous Men has been named to several lists since its release:
USA Today Best Books of 2019
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year
Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year
Top 10 Crime Debut of 2019, Booklist
Publishers Weekly, starred review
Kirkus, starred review
Booklist, starred review
Favorite Book
Couldn't even begin to pick only one! In 2019, several that I especially loved reading were
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, The Sportswriter by Richard Ford, All that Is by James Salter,
and The Witch Elm by Tana French
Favorite Author
A few that come to mind: Graham Greene, Thomas Hardy, Anthony Powell, Nikolai
Gogol, Saul Bellow, Wallace Stegner, Dashiell Hammett, Milan Kundera
Tips for aspiring writers?
Read a lot. Find a writing routine. Stick to it. Read more.
Tell us a bit about your path to becoming an author
My father, Alan Lelchuk, is a novelist (as Visiting Writer at Amherst, he had both Dan Brown and David
Foster Wallace in the same classroom!) and my mother, Barbara Kreiger, writes nonfiction books. So I
was lucky to grow up in a house filled by books -- and also frequently by writers. I was fortunate to know
authors like Philip Roth and Saul Bellow personally, long before I ever got to know them through their
writing -- Bellow I owe an especial debt of gratitude to, as he was not only my namesake but stopped
me from falling into an old, uncapped well in New Hampshire when I was a toddler! I've always wanted
to write fiction, and never really wavered from this goal, although in my experience the path from
wanting to write books, to publishing a first book, certainly took a few digressions.