B.A. 1989 University of California, Davis
M.A. 1993 College of William and Mary
On the PSU faculty since 2006

FIELDS: Creative nonfiction and magazine writing

SPECIAL INTERESTS: Paul Collins is an author specializing in science writing, antiquarian literature, reviewing and memoir; his five books have appeared in eight languages. In addition to appearing regularly on NPR's Weekend Edition as their “literary detective” on odd and forgotten old books, he edits the Collins Library imprint of McSweeney's Books, and his recent freelance work includes articles for The New York Times, Slate, Smithsonian, and New Scientist.

INTERVIEWS WITH PAUL COLLINS
Identity Theory interview, by Robert Birnbaum, September 2005
Tin House interview, by Paul Durica, Winter 2004
To The Best of Our Knowledge, PRI radio interview with Jim Fleming, March 2003
The Onion interview, by Andy Battaglia, September 2001

BOOKS
The Trouble With Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine (Bloomsbury, 2005)
Not Even Wrong: A Father's Journey Into the Lost History of Autism (Bloomsbury, 2004)
Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books (Bloomsbury, 2003)
Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World (Picador, 2001)
Community Writing: Researching Social Issues Through Composition (Erlbaum, 2001)

ANTHOLOGY APPEARANCES
The Better of McSweeney's, ed. by Dave Eggers (2005)
Bookmark Now, ed. by Kevin Smokler (2004)
The Norton Reader, 11th edition (2003)
The All-Music Guide to Rock, 2nd ed. by Stephen Erlwhine et al. (2002)
The Rough Guide to Rock, 2nd ed. (1999)

IN PROGRESS
The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World, to be published by Bloomsbury USA

BOOKS EDITED
The Lunatic at Large, by J. Storer Clouston. Intro. by Jonathan Ames. McSweeney's Books, 2007
The Riddle of the Traveling Skull, by Harry Stephen Keeler. McSweeney's Books, 2005
Lady Into Fox, by David Garnett. McSweeney's Books, 2004
To Ruhleben and Back, by Geoffrey Pyke. McSweeney's Books, 2003
English as She is Spoke, by Jose Da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino. McSweeney's Books, 2002

SELECTED RECENT ARTICLES
“Chain Reaction: Do Bookstores Have a Future?” Village Voice, 22 May 2006.
“Rock Bands of the Nineteenth Century” NPR Weekend Edition, 3 June 2006.
“Folio, Where Art Thou?: One Man's Quest To Track Down Every Copy on the Planet” Smithsonian, September 2006.
“The Molecatcher's Daughter” The Believer. November 2006.
“Dead Plagiarists Society: Will Google Book Search Uncover Long-Buried Literary Crimes?” Slate, 21 November 2006.
“Jefferson's Lump of Coal” New York Times, 24 December 2006.
“Dr. Poe's Cure for Death” New Scientist, 13 January 2007.
“Edwardian Mad Libs” NPR Weekend Edition, 24 February 2007.
“The Worst Pulp Novelist Ever: Remembering Leo Guild” The Stranger, 14 March 2007.
“Namejacking: Seven Books Even Their Authors Don't Recognize” The Believer, April 2007.