Arthur Bradford

Life

Bradford was born in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, the son of energy regulator Peter A. Bradford and painter Katherine Bradford. He and his twin sister, Laura Bradford grew up in Maine and New York City. They both attended Phillips Academy and Yale University. After graduating, Bradford moved to Austin, Texas where he worked at The Texas School for the Blind and began writing short stories and making short films. During this time he was awarded a Wallace Stegner fellow at Stanford University and later a James Michener Fellowship from the University of Texas at Austin.

After the publication of his first book, Dogwalker, in 2001, Bradford lived briefly in a remote cabin in The Northeast Kingdom where he wrote and published several short stories about the experience. He later moved to Brooklyn, NY in order to pursue filmmaking. In 2005 he became the co-director of "Camp Jabberwocky", a residential camp for people with disabilities. It was there that he originated the How's Your News? series with help from South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The series was co-created with longtime friend, musician Chad Urmston. Bradford now lives in Portland, Oregon.

Bradford is a great-great-great-grandson of department-store magnate Abraham Abraham and also philanthropist Jacob Schiff.

Literary works

Bradford's short stories have won an O. Henry Award and have been published in Esquire, McSweeneys, Zoetrope, Dazed & Confused, Tin House, and Vice. His first book, Dogwalker (Knopf ISBN 0-375-72669-1), is a collection of stories centered around his experiences in Austin and Vermont. His second book, Benny's Brigade (McSweeney's 2012) recounts the adventures of two girls who discover a small talking walrus inside a walnut. It was illustrated by Lisa Hanawalt. His latest book, Turtleface and Beyond was published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in February 2015.

In 2014, Planthouse, Inc. published a limited edition artist book Forty-Three Monsters by Bradford and Chuck Webster. Bradford contributed a comic narrative to accompany Chuck Webster's childhood monster drawings from the 1970s. A children's book version of "Forty-Three Monsters" will be published by Planthouse in collaboration with Manic D Press in October 2015.

Bradford kept a blog in 2007–2008 about raising his daughter on babble.com, entitled "Diaper Bandit". He was a contributor to the McSweeney's publication The Future Dictionary of America. He has also written outdoor travel stories for Men's Journal, Powder Magazine, and Nowheremag.com.

Bradford has performed several stories for the nationally syndicated radio show The Moth and one of his stories, "The Quest for Chad" appears in the Moth Anthology, "All These Wonders" published by Crown Publishing Group

Filmmaking

While a student at Yale, Bradford created a public access TV show called Street TV which featured candid, man-on-the-street interviews. He later taught a video class at Camp Jabberwocky, a residential camp for adults with disabilities and with several other counselors developed the concept for the documentary series How's Your News?. Early video tapes were seen by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker who became executive producers on the project. Bradford directed the first How's Your News? feature film, a documentary wherein disabled and handicapped adults interview unsuspecting passersby in a cross-country road trip, in 2002. The film was broadcast on HBO, PBS, and British channel, Channel 4. The concept was expanded and developed into a series for MTV and broadcast throughout 2009. Bradford served as executive producer and director. The group also made films about their trips to the 2004 and 2012 political conventions. Arthur and a How's Your News reporter were interviewed on the BBC podcast Ouch! He was also featured on NPR's This American Life in the "Special Ed" episode.

In 2012, Bradford directed 6 Days to Air, a documentary that depicts the making of an episode of South Park, which premiered on Comedy Central on October 9, 2011. It was nominated for an Emmy award in the outstanding non-fiction special category. He is currently shooting a feature documentary about the lives and careers of Parker and Stone.

He has directed music videos for bands such as State Radio and The Dandy Warhols. Since 2006, Bradford has served as director of "Camp Jabberwocky", one of the longest running residential camps for adults with disabilities in the United States.