Biography

For many years Paul Sullivan was a humorous voice at an otherwise sober newspaper. Over a short period of time he carved out a niche writing features and profiles for the Weekend edition of the Financial Times. This began on an Amtrak train, with an impromptu interview with Kurt Vonnegut. It grew throughout his time at the British newspaper to include pieces on such different figures as Desmond Tutu, Frank Gehry, Bruce Davidson, Alejandro Toledo, and Peter Carey. Yet he also had an interest in quirky, unknown people, which the FT shared. Favorites among these were the man with the world’s largest cocktail shaker collection, his counterpart in the world of marbles and the foremost expert on high-speed elevators.

In 2003, he wrote a biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald that Oxford University Press published in a series on American Literature and became a columnist for the paper. For two years, he compiled a daily collection of funny, cutting, and often irreverent vignettes for Observer. He returned to feature writing until he left the paper and New York in 2006 to move to Boston with his then fiance, Laura.

Since then his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Conde Nast Portfolio, Food & Wine, The Boston Globe, The International Herald Tribune and Barron’s. He has just finished a forthcoming biography of Nick Hornby, the British writer.

He and his now wife live in southern Connecticut and Naples, Florida, with their two dogs - Lucy, a retired breeder for the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, and Mark, a guide dog in training. He graduated with degrees in history from Trinity College and the University of Chicago.

How To Become a Man is a memoir about the other person to love him as unconditionally as his wife, his grandfather. It is a story about a retired postal worker who was a mentor, guide, and friend to his grandson when he needed it the most - living friendless on a bad street in a dead town. It begins the first day of fifth grade when Paul comes downstairs to find his father gone and Papa sitting there. Unbeknownst to Paul, that is the day Papa became a true father to him. The story ends seventeen years later when Papa dies and Paul is left to navigate the world without him. Theirs is a story of survival, hope and above all, love. 

The blog HowToBecomeAMan.com is just a bit of fun.