Ian Frazier (born 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American writer and humorist. He wrote the 1989 non-fiction history Great Plains, 2010's non-fiction travelogue Travels in Siberia, and works as a writer and humorist for The New Yorker. Biography Frazier grew up in Hudson, Ohio. His father, David Frazier, was a chemist, who worked for Sohio; his mother, Peggy, was a teacher, as well as an amateur actor and director, who performed in and directed plays in local Ohio theaters. He graduated from Western Reserve Academy in 1969 and from Harvard University in 1973. Writing career The New York Times critic James Gorman described Frazier's 1996 humor collection Coyote v. Acme (in the title piece, Wile E. Coyote is suing Acme Corporation, the manufacturer of products such as explosives and rocket-propelled devices purchased by the coyote to aid in hunting the Road Runner; these products always backfire disastrously) as the occasion for "irrepressible laughter in the reader." Gorman rates Frazier's first collection, 1986's Dating Your Mom, as "one of the best collections of humor ever published." Awards 1989 Whiting Award 1997 Thurber Prize for American Humor, for essay collection Coyote vs. Acme 2009 Thurber Prize for American Humor, for essay collection Lamentations of the Father Bibliography References External links Ian Frazier articles for Outside Magazine Ian Frazier articles at Byliner Ian Frazier on NPR for Travels in SIberia Ian Frazier at FSG Profile at The Whiting Foundation Interview with Ian Frazier on WFMU's "The Speakeasy with Dorian" (RealAudio) Review of Gone to New York Select the RealAudio link by "LAMENTATIONS OF A FATHER" at time 28:42 to hear Ian Frazier read his "Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father" on the January 24, 1998 Prairie Home Companion broadcast. The famous mock-legal complaint Coyote v. Acme, to which a lawyer made this reply Lambert, Craig (September–October 2008). "Seriously Funny: Ian Frazier combines an historian's discipline with an original comic mind". Harvard Magazine. 1951 births Living people The Harvard Lampoon alumni People from Hudson, Ohio The New Yorker people The New Yorker staff writers Writers from Ohio American humorists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Journalists from Ohio 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Western Reserve Academy alumni 21st-century American male writers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters