William Zinsser (pronounced Zin-zer) was born October 7th, 1922 in New York, New York. He graduated from Princeton as a member of the 1944 class, and went on be a newspaper reporter, prolific magazine writer, editor, teacher and renowned writing coach. He began his career with the New York Herald Tribune and has long been a freelance writer for leading magazines. His fifteen books include the classic On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (now in its 25th anniversary edition ), as well as Writing to Learn, How to Write a Memoir, Speaking of Journalism, Writing About Your Life: A Journey to the Past and Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir. During the 1970s he taught writing at Yale, where he was master of Branford College. From 1979 to 1987 he was general editor of the Book-of-the-Month Club. He now teaches at the New School in New York, his hometown. On October 10th, 1954 he married Caroline Fraser, with whom he has had two children, Amy and John William.
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