Derek B. Miller

Derek B. Miller is an American novelist, academic and international affairs specialist.

Background

In January 2013 The Times newspaper featured his debut novel Norwegian by Night as the novel to look out for in the forthcoming year ^[1] and by year's end The Economist listed Norwegian by Night as one of the best six novels in the world, alongside the Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, winner of the Man Booker Prize and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.^[2] Miller was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Wellesley with his father Joel Miller, his stepmother Nancy Miller, and his sister Melissa. Miller is Jewish, and his family emigrated from Eastern Europe to Massachusetts in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He is married to Camilla Waszink from Norway, and they have two children, Julian (born in April 2008) and Clara (born in August 2011).^[3] Miller and his family live in Oslo, Norway while keeping strong connections to New England.^[4]

Education and career

Miller is a graduate of Wellesley High School (1988), Sarah Lawrence College (B.A. in Liberal Arts, 1992), Georgetown University (M.A. in national security studies from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, 1996), the formerly named Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (D.E.S in international relations, 1998), and a Ph.D. with distinction from the University of Geneva in international relations (2004). Miller also studied at the Hebrew University (Israel, 1990–91), where he remained for the duration of the Gulf War, Hunter College (1993), St. Catherine's College at the University of Oxford (1995-1996 in connection with his studies at Georgetown) and finally Linacre College at the University of Oxford on full scholarship from the Europeaum Consortium in connection with his Ph.D. in Geneva. While there he worked with Professor Rom Harré to apply Harré's work on Positioning Theory to the study of international affairs. His dissertation was later published by Palgrave Macmillan as "Media Pressure on Foreign Policy: The Evolving Theoretical Framework," and was called by Harré "original and powerful study, and deserves to be very widely read."

Since 2004 Miller has been connected to the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research,^[5] first as lead researcher for small arms and light weapons, then project manager for the Security Needs Assessment Protocol project (SNAP), eventually leaving in 2010 to found The Policy Lab in 2011 — a research and consulting institute that helps organizations achieve "better impact by design." Much of Miller's work on policy design and related areas is co-authored with Lisa Rudnick.

Fiction Writing

His first novel, Norwegian by Night, was published by the Faber and Faber in the UK, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the U.S., Scribe in Australia and by publishers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Israel, Poland, the Czech Republic, South Korea, and Japan. Norwegian by Night received outstanding reviews in the Guardian, Times, Sunday Times and many other publications around the world.^[6] It was shortlisted for seven literary awards. In October 2013, the novel was awarded with the Crime Writer's Association John Creasy Dagger Award for a debut crime novel,^[7] and in 2014 at Crimefest it was awarded the eDunnit Award and the Goldsboro Last Laugh Award. Norwegian by Night was further nominated for the Strand Magazine Critic's Award for Best First Novel, the American Bookseller's Association's 2014 Indie Choice Award, Book of the Year for Adult Debuts, Barry Award for Best First Novel and the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery. Miller's second novel is The Girl in Green, forthcoming in 2016 from (again) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (U.S.); Faber and Faber (UK); Scribe (Australia and New Zealand); Neri Pozza (Italy); and Cappelen Damm (Norway).

References