André Aciman


André Aciman is an Italian-American writer. Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, he is currently a distinguished professor at the Graduate Center of the [City University of New York], where he teaches the history of literary theory and the works of Marcel Proust. Aciman previously taught creative writing at New York University and French literature at Princeton University and Bard College.
In 2009, he was Visiting Distinguished Writer at Wesleyan University.
He has authored several novels, including Call Me by Your Name, which was made into a film, and the 1995 memoir Out of Egypt, which won a Whiting Award. Though best known for Call Me by Your Name, Aciman said in a 2019 interview that he views the novel Eight White Nights as his best book.

Early life and education

Aciman was born in Alexandria, Egypt, the son of Regine and Henri N. Aciman, who owned a knitting factory. His mother was deaf. Aciman was raised in a largely French-speaking home, where family members also spoke Italian, Greek, Ladino, and Arabic.
His parents were Sephardic Jews of Turkish and Italian origin from families that had settled in Alexandria in 1905. Considered part of the Mutamassirun community, his family members were unable to become Egyptian citizens. As a child, Aciman mistakenly believed that he was a French citizen. He attended British schools in Egypt. While the family was spared the 1956–57 exodus and expulsions from Egypt, increased tensions with Israel under President Gamal Abdel Nasser put Jews in a precarious position, leading his family to leave Egypt nine years later, in 1965.
After his father purchased Italian citizenship for the family, Aciman moved with his mother and brother as refugees to Rome while his father moved to Paris. They moved to New York City in 1968. He earned a B.A. in English and Comparative Literature from Lehman College in 1973, and an M.A. and PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard University in 1988.

''Out of Egypt''

Aciman's 1996 memoir Out of Egypt, about Alexandria before the 1956 expulsions from Egypt, was reviewed widely. In The [New York Times], Michiko Kakutani described the book as a "remarkable memoir...that leaves the reader with a mesmerizing portrait of a now vanished world." She compared his work with that of Lawrence Durrell and noted, "There are some wonderfully vivid scenes here, as strange and marvelous as something in García Márquez."

Personal life

Aciman is married to Susan Wiviott. They have three sons, Alexander, a writer and journalist, and twins Philip and Michael. His wife, a graduate of University of Wisconsin–Madison and Harvard Law School, is the CEO of the Bridge, Inc., a New York City-based nonprofit organization that offers rehabilitative services. She is also a board director of Kadmon Holdings, Inc., and formerly worked as Chief Program Officer of Palladia and Deputy Executive Vice President of JBFCS.

Awards