“My liberal arts education is my most treasured possession. The values at the heart of Phi Beta Kappa—that intellectual pursuits should be expansive and broad-ranging, that knowledge of various disciplines weaves a tapestry richer than its individual threads, that the primary function of a university is to teach students to think not just to train them for a job—ensure a full measure of success. Not just financial or professional success, but the triumph of living an enriched and stimulating life.”
—Gregg Hurwitz
By Meghan Barrett
Gregg Hurwitz (ΦBK, Harvard University, 1995) is a New York Times best-selling author of fifteen thrillers, but there are no limits when it comes to his career. In addition to compelling, international bestsellers like his most recent novel, Orphan X, Hurwitz has also written screenplays for or sold spec scripts to several major studios including MGM and Paramount, written, developed and produced TV for Warner Brothers and Lakeshore, and is a best-selling comic book writer for both Marvel (Wolverine, Punisher) and DC (Batman, Penguin).
While earning his BA at Harvard University and then Master’s in Shakespearean tragedy at Trinity College, Oxford, Hurwitz penned his first novel, played college soccer, and was an undergraduate scholar-athlete of the year at Harvard for his pole-vaulting. Hurwitz was a Knox Fellow in England, part of a highly selective scholarly exchange program between Harvard and universities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. According to the fellowship website, Knox Fellows are selected based on the future promise of leadership, strength of character, keen mind, balanced judgment, and a devotion to the democratic ideal.
In addition to his creative work, Hurwitz remains involved in academia, having published numerous articles on Shakespeare, taught fiction writing in the USC English Department, and guest lectured for the University of California, Los Angeles and Harvard University in the US and other universities internationally. Hurwitz also finds himself travelling to research his thrillers. As described on his website, Hurwitz has snuck onto demolition ranges with Navy SEALS, swam with sharks in the Galapagos, and gone undercover in mind-control cults.
These varied experiences helped him land a spot as a writer and producer for season two of ABC’s V, which aired in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, South Africa, and Europe in 2011. His first spec script, Expulsion, sold to Warner Brothers in 2010. He became the writer of Batman: The Dark Knight for DC comics in 2012, working on books #10 through #15, wrapping up his work in 2014. David Goyer (The Dark Knight trilogy) has jumped aboard to direct Gregg’s latest TV pilot, an adaptation of The Dark Half by Stephen King. Hurwitz also has plans to work with Shawn Ryan (The Shield TV series) to bring his Tim Rackley series to TNT Network.
Gregg is currently adapting Orphan X for film, to potentially star Bradley Cooper (best known for American Sniper). Hurwitz’s original screenplay, The Book of Henry, is currently in post-production with Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow; Hurwitz has been on set working with the cast, featuring stars like Sarah Silverman and Naomi Watts, and crew. The film is scheduled for release later this year.
Hurwitz’s novels have been on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists and both national and international bestseller lists around the world; his work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. His books have been shortlisted for best novel of the year by International Thriller Writers, nominated for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, honored as a Book Sense Picks, and selected by several major literary book clubs. His next novel will be a sequel to the critically acclaimed Orphan X and will be called The Nowhere Man. It is scheduled for publication in January 2017.
Meghan Barrett is a senior earning her BS in biology and creative writing at SUNY Geneseo. She is president of Alpha Delta Epsilon regional sorority and a proud member of the Alpha Delta of New York Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at SUNY Geneseo.