List of University of Michigan arts alumni

Art, architecture, and design

James Baird, civil engineer; directed the construction of the Flatiron Building, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Memorial Amphitheater, and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Bill Barrett (BS 1958, MS, MFA), sculptor and painter

John W. F. Bennett, civil engineer; supervised the construction of the Algonquin Hotel in New York and the Ritz and Waldorf Hotels in London

Charles Correa (ARCH: B.Arch. 1953, Honorary Doctor of Architecture 1980)

John De Lorean (BUS: MBA 1957), GM Group Vice President; designer of the "back to the future" gull-wing automobile

John Dinkeloo, civil engineer; partner of 1982 Pritzker Prize laureate Kevin Roche in the firm Roche-Dinkeloo

Alden B. Dow, architect; son of Herbert Henry Dow (founder of the Dow Chemical Company) and Grace A. Dow

Dan Dworsky (ARCH: B.Arch. 1950), designed the University's Crisler Arena and the Federal Reserve Bank in Los Angeles; member of varsity football starting team at Michigan, 1945-1948; played professionally for the Los Angeles Dons in 1949; member of Jewish Sports Hall of Fame; all-time 50 year Rose Bowl team

Tony Fadell (COE: BSE CompE 1991), "father of the Apple iPod"

Jesse Frohman (BA Economics), photographer

Mike Kelley (BFA 1976), gross-out artist in L.A. in the style of Paul McCarthy

Richard Keyes (SOAD: BA Design 1957), Professor Emeritus at Long Beach City College, after a 30-year career there teaching life drawing and painting.

Maynard Lyndon (1907-1999), American architect

Malcolm McCullough, U of M ARCH professor and author

Tristan Meinecke (c.1942, did not graduate) painter, writer, architect.

Charles Willard Moore (ARCH: B.Arch 1947, Hon Arch D. 1992), designer of Lurie Tower on Michigan's North Campus; winner of the AIA Gold Medal in 1991

Robert Nickle (AB 1943), artist known primarily for his "street scrap" collage work; studied architecture and design at Michigan; worked and taught at the Art Institute of Chicago

Ralph Rapson, head of architecture at the University of Minnesota for many years; one of the world's oldest and most prolific practicing architects at his death at age 93

Warren M. Robbins (MFA), art collector whose collection led to the formation of the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution

Bernard "Tony" Rosenthal (BA 1936), abstract sculptor

Eric Staller (BA 1971, Artist Architecture)

Raoul Wallenberg (ARCH: B.Arch 1935), Swedish diplomat famous for assisting Hungarian Jews in late World War II. University's Wallenberg Fellowship and Taubman College's Wallenberg Studio are named in his honor.

Alumni lives in film

In 42, Harrison Ford plays Branch Rickey, the baseball manager who helped break baseball’s color line by promoting the career of Jackie Robinson played by Chadwick Boseman

In DeLorean (1981) A documentary directed by Academy Award winning filmmakers D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. The film chronicles John DeLorean throughout the launch of his DeLorean DMC-12 sports car in 1981.

In The Devil in the White City, Leonardo DiCaprio will play Herman Webster Mudgett, one of the first documented serial killers

In Harmon of Michigan, Tom Harmon, noted football player and athlete, plays himself

In Gifted Hands, Cuba Gooding plays Ben Carson a neurosurgeon

In Gimme Danger, a Jim Jarmusch film, Iggy Pop plays himself, the front-man for the The Stooges

In Inherit the Wind, Spencer Tracy plays noted trial attorney and alumnus Clarence Darrow

In Madonna: Truth or Dare, noted singer Madonna plays herself

In Mozart and the Whale, Josh Hartnett played autistic savant Jerry Newport

In The Orchid Thief, Meryl Streep plays University of Michigan essayist Susan Orlean

In You Don't Know Jack, Al Pacino plays Dr. Jack Kevorkian, an advocate for euthanasia

Dance

Janet Lilly, principal dancer for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

Directors, producers, and screenwriters

Libby Appel, fourth artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Wyatt Bardouille (BS 1997), producer and director of Dominica: Charting a Future for Paradise

Forman Brown (BA 1922), established Yale Puppeteers upon graduating; opened a puppet theatre in Los Angeles in the 1920s which attracted celebrity attention and support from Greta Garbo, Marie Dressler, Douglas Fairbanks, and Albert Einstein

Hal Cooper (BA 1946), TV producer and director for Maude, Dick Van Dyke Show, Mayberry RFD, That Girl, I Dream of Jeannie, and Empty Nest

Valentine Davies (BA 1927), screenwriter of Miracle on 34th Street

Lillian Gallo (BA), 1978 winner of a Crystal Award, established in 1977 to honor outstanding women who have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry

Megan Ganz (BA 2006), comedy writer; former associate editor of The Onion

Jon Glaser (BA), writer, comedian

Richard Glatzer, writer and director, Still Alice

Jonathan Glickman (BA 1991), President of Spyglass Entertainment; producer of Rush Hour series

Jon Hein (BA 1989), creator of the Jump the Shark website

Adam Herz (BA 1996), writer and producer of American Pie

Max Hodge (BA 1939), TV writer for Wild, Wild West, Mission Impossible, Marcus Welby, and The Waltons

Lawrence Kasdan (BA 1970, MA 1972), studied creative writing; won four Hopwood Awards; known for his work on The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Force Awakens.

Aviva Kempner (AB), director and screenwriter

Maryam Keshavarz (MA), filmmaker

Philip N. Krasne (BA 1927), producer of the later Charlie Chan films and the Cisco Kid series

David Levien (BA 1989), co-wrote and co-directed The Knockaround Guys; co-wrote Rounders

Jeff Marx (BA 1993), composer and lyricist of musicals; known for creating the Broadway musical Avenue Q with collaborator Robert Lopez; together, they wrote the show’s 21 songs

Robert McKee (BA), creative writing instructor

Marian Mercer, 1968 Tony for Promises, Promises; appeared on Empty Nest, It's a Living, St. Elsewhere

David Newman (BA 1958, MA 1959), screenwriter for Superman I, II, III, Bonnie & Clyde, What's Up Doc? and Still of the Night

Leslie Newman (BA 1958), screenwriter for Superman

Dudley Nichols (MDNG: 1914-1917), screenwriter for For Whom the Bell Tolls, Stagecoach, the Oscar-winning The Informer, and Bringing up Baby

Jack O'Brien (AB 1961, MA 1962), Broadway producer of The Full Monty and Hairspray, for which he won a Tony in 2003; producer of His Girl Friday in London for the National Theatre of Great Britain

Paul Osborn, playwright and screenwriter best known for writing the screen adaptation of East of Eden; won 1980 Tony award for best Broadway revival for his play about four sisters, Morning's at Seven, which originally opened on Broadway in 1939

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (BFAs 2007), musical theatre writing team

Kerri Pomarolli (BFA 1996), comedian

John Rich (BA 1948, MA 1949), Emmy Award-winning producer for Maude, That Girl, Mayberry RFD, and MacGyver

Norman Rosten (MA 1936), poet, playwright, novelist and Guggenheim award winner

Davy Rothbart, author; filmmaker; contributor to This American Life; editor and publisher of Found Magazine

Allen Rucker, writer and television pro

Jeffrey Seller (BA 1986), Broadway producer; four-time Tony Award winner for Best Musical Rent (1996), Avenue Q (2004), and Hamilton (2016)

Robert Shaye (BUS: BBA 1960), founder and co-chairman of New Line Cinema; produced The Lord of the Rings trilogy

Ron Sproat (MA), creator of character Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows

Roger L. Stevens (MDNG: 1928-1930, HLLD 1964), stage producer for West Side Story, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Man for All Seasons, and Annie

Christopher Yost (BA 1995), screenwriter for Thor: The Dark World and Max Steel

Graphic arts

Lloyd Dangle (BFA 1983), cartoonist

Dwayne McDuffie (BA, MA), cartoonist and fantasy author

Allen "Al" Milgrom (BA 1972), comic book writer, penciller, inker and editor, primarily for Marvel Comics; known for ten-year run as editor of Marvel Fanfare; long involvement as writer, penciler, and inker on Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man; four-year tenure as West Coast Avengers penciller; and long stint as the inker of X-Factor

Jim Ottaviani (MA nuclear engineering), author of several comic books about the history of science; Two-Fisted Science: Stories About Scientists features biographical stories about Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Niels Bohr, and Richard Feynman

Jason Rubin, video game director; comic book creator; Internet company founder; known for the Crash Bandicoot series of games

Sam Viviano (AB 1975), Art Director and cover illustrator for MAD magazine

Music

The Arbors, 1960s pop group (all four members; group named after Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Clarice Assad (MA), her master’s thesis concerto was recorded by Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg

Chris Bathgate (BFA), indie folk singer-songwriter and musician in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti folk music scene in Michigan

Judith Becker (BA, PhD), ethnomusicologist

Don Blum (BA 1994), drummer in the band The Von Bondies

Janai Brugger (MM), operatic soprano

Chalkdust, born Hollis Urban Lester Liverpool (PhD ethnomusicology), calypsonian from Trinidad and Tobago; ethnomusicologist at the University of the Virgin Islands

Evan Chambers (PhD), composer, traditional Irish fiddler, and Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan

Michelle Chamuel (BA 2008), singer, songwriter, producer

Stephen Chatman (DMA 1977), composer

Pius Cheung (Chinese name: 張鈞量) (PhD), marimbist and composer

Robert Cogan (MM 1952), music theorist, composer, teacher

Muriel Costa-Greenspon (AB, MA), mezzo-soprano who performed with the New York City Opera for thirty years; a daughter of deaf parents

David Daniels (MM 1992), countertenor

Joe Dassin (PhD), French singer

Aaron Dworkin (MA 1998), violinist and music educator

Ella Riot, band formed by Michigan undergraduates who coined "DanceThink" music

Michael Fabiano (BM 2005), operatic tenor

Elizabeth Fischer Monastero (BM 1956), operatic mezzo-soprano, voice teacher

Gabriela Lena Frank (DMA 2001), composer, Guggenheim award winner

George Frayne (BFA, MFA), founder of music group Commander Cody

Alexander Frey (BM, MM), conductor, pianist, organist, harpsichordist, composer

Jay Gorney (LS&A: BA 1917; LAW: 1919), composer, songwriter of "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?"

Joe Henry, singer, songwriter, music producer

Katt Hernandez (BFA 1997), improvising violinist; microtonalist; toured the country with Vashti Bunyan; created new techniques for string multi-phonics and microtonal harmonics

Robert James (BA, MA), two-time Grammy Award-winning smooth jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer

Laurence Kaptain (DMA), symphonic cimbalom artist

Theo Katzman (BA 2008), singer, songwriter, producer

Mike Kelley (BA 1976), artist

James Kibbie (DMA 1981), concert organist, recording artist, Professor of Organ at U-M

Martin Kierszenbaum (also known as Cherry Cherry Boom Boom; "Kirschbaum" is German for cherry tree), head of A&R at Interscope Records; president of Interscope's subsidiary imprint Cherrytree Records; songwriter; producer; A&R for Lady Gaga, Sting, Keane, Tokio Hotel, Feist, Far East Movement and Natalia Kills; has co-written songs for Lady Gaga, t.A.T.u., Flipsyde, Tokio Hotel, Ai, Alexandra Burke and Colby O'Donis

Fred LaBour (MA), musician; instrumental in the spread of the "Paul is Dead" urban legend

Andrew Lippa (BA 1987), lyricist and composer

David T. Little, composer and drummer known for orchestral and operatic works

Normand Lockwood, composer; studied composition at U-M 1921–1924; winner of a Guggenheim award

Madonna, born Madonna Ciccone (MDNG: 1976-1978), singer and actress

Timothy McAllister, (BM 95, MM 97, DMA, 2002), GRAMMY award-winning classical saxophonist; member of PRISM Quartet; current Professor of Saxophone at U-M

George W. Meyer (PhD 1941), Tin Pan Alley songwriter; Guggenheim award winner

Randy Napoleon (BFA 1999), jazz guitarist

Niagara, musician; painter; lead vocalist of the punk rock bands Destroy All Monsters and Dark Carnival

Barbara Nissman (BM, MM, DMA); concert pianist known for her interpretations of the music of Ginastera and Prokofiev

Nomo, band formed at U-M

Jessye Norman (MUSIC: MMUS 1968; HSCD 1987), opera and concert singer

Sean Panikkar (BM, MM), opera singer; member of the classical crossover group Forte Tenors

Felix Pappalardi, musician, record producer

Richard Perry (BA 1964), record producer

Nicholas Phan, tenor, performer of oratorio and opera

Iggy Pop, born James Osterberg, Jr. (MDNG: 1963-1964), rock star

Mark Powell (BM 1992), conductor, composer, music educator, founder of ARCO - The American Radio Chamber Orchestra

Daniel Bernard Roumain (Ph D), composer and performer, the self-styled "Dred Violinist"

David Shayman, aka Disco D (BUS: BBA 2002), helped pioneer Detroit booty music and later named it "ghettotech"; producer of hip-hop, R&B, and dancehall tracks

Antwaun Stanley, singer, songwriter

Tally Hall, band named after a shopping plaza in Michigan

Vienna Teng, born Cynthia Yih Shih, Taiwanese American pianist and singer-songwriter; albums include Waking Hour (2002), Warm Strangers (2004), Dreaming Through The Noise (2006), and Inland Territory (2009); live album, The Moment Always Vanishing (2009), on which she is double-billed with her percussionist, Alex Wong

Thomas Tyra (MUSIC: PhD 1971), musician

Sam Valenti IV, founded independent record label Ghostly International in 1999

Sachal Vasandani, jazz vocalist

Aleksandra Vrebalov (MUSIC: PhD), Serbian composer

David Was (David Weiss, BA 1974), musician and producer, Was (Not Was); music critic and commentator

Don Was (Don Fagenson, MDNG: 1970-1971), record producer; Blue Note Records president and musician, Was (Not Was)

Julia Wolfe, composer

Jack Yellen (BA 1913), lyricist and screenwriter; two of his most recognized songs are "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Ain't She Sweet"; ASCAP Board of Directors (1951–69); Songwriters Hall of Fame 1972

Academy Award nominees and winners

John Briley (BA 1951, MA 1952), won Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay, Gandhi

Valentine Davies, film and television writer, producer, and director; Miracle on 34th Street earned him an Academy Award for Best Story

Charles Crawford Davis (COE: 1916), won 1948 Oscar for his invention of the Davis Drive System, a system for merging sound with pictures and driving the film through movie cameras and projectors

Michael Dunn (MDNG), nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1966 for Ship of Fools

John M. Eargle (MM 1954), Oscar and Grammy-winning audio engineer; musician (piano, church and theater organ)

Michael Epstein (B.Arch); also winner of two George Foster Peabody Awards, an Emmy, and a Writers Guild Award

Gary Gilbert (BBA), The Kids Are All Right (nominated for Best Picture); producer; founder and president of Gilbert Films

James Earl Jones (BFA 1955), actor; the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies; winner of two Tony Awards and an honorary Oscar

Lawrence Edward "Larry" Kasdan (MA), The Big Chill (nominated, screenplay), Grand Canyon (nominated, screenplay), The Accidental Tourist (nominated, screenplay; Best Picture); Grand Canyon won the Golden Bear at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.

Christine Lahti (BFA 1972), actress; winner of the Academy Award, an Emmy, and two Golden Globe awards

Kurt Luedtke, Out of Africa (winner - Writing Adapted Screenplay)

Arthur Miller (BA 1938), nominated for The Crucible; the play was adapted for film twice, by Jean-Paul Sartre as the 1957 film Les Sorcières de Salem and by Miller himself as the 1996 film The Crucible; his adaptation earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay based on Previously Produced Material, his only nomination

John Nelson, Academy award for Best Visual Effects for Gladiator

Dudley Nichols, nominated for Best Screenplay for The Long Voyage Home in 1941, for Best Original Screenplay for Air Force in 1944, and for Best Story and Screenplay (Written Directly for the Screen) for The Tin Star in 1958; he won Best Screenplay for The Informer in 1936, but initially refused the honor due to an ongoing writer’s strike

Talent management

George Finkel (BA 1958), TV sports producer for NBC Sports 1971-1990; won three Emmy awards

Dan Glickman (BA 1966), President and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.

Theatre, film, and television

Stanley Bahorek (BFA 2003), actor

Rick Bayless, chef who specializes in modern interpretations of traditional Mexican cuisine; known for PBS series Mexico: One Plate at a Time

Michael Bellavia (BS 1991), Emmy Award- winning President of Animax Entertainment

Selma Blair (BA 1994), actress, known for Cruel Intentions and Legally Blonde

Zachary Booth (BFA 2004), actor

Sophina Brown (BFA), actor, Numb3rs

David Burtka (BFA 1997), actor; chef; entertainment news correspondent for E! News

Bruno Campos (LAW), Brazilian-born actor, Nip/Tuck

Jessica Cauffiel (SMTD: BFA), actress

Esther K. Chae (MA), actress

Gavin Creel (BFA 1998), Tony Award-nominated actor

Darren Criss (BFA 2009), actor; singer-songwriter; cast member of Glee; member of StarKid Productions

Ann B. Davis (BFA 1948), two-time Emmy award winner, played the secretary in The Bob Cummings Show and Alice Nelson on The Brady Bunch

Donald Alan "Don" Diamond (BA 1942), radio, film, and television actor; known for his comic portrayal as Crazy Cat on the 1960s television sitcom F Troop

Erin Dilly, actress; Truly Scrumptious in the 2005 musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award

Michael Dunn, aka Gary Neil Miller (MDNG), actor, known for his recurring role as mad scientist Dr. Miguelito Loveless in the 1960s TV series The Wild Wild West

Barrett Foa (BFA 1999), actor, NCIS: Los Angeles

Hunter Foster (BFA 1992), Tony Award-nominated actor

Stephen Fung Tak-Lun (BA 1992), Hong Kong-based actor, singer, model, writer and film director

Alexander Gemignani, actor, tenor

David Alan Grier (BA 1978), actor, comedian

Avery Hopwood (AB 1905), one of the most successful playwrights of the Jazz Age

Ruth Hussey, actress

Stephanie Izard (BA), chef; winner of the fourth season of Top Chef, Bravo's cooking competition show

Gregory Jbara (MDNG: 1979-1981), Tony award-winning actor

Tusshar Kapoor (BBA), actor in Indian cinema

Andrew Keenan-Bolger (BFA 2007), known for the role of Crutchy in Disney's Newsies, as well as for his video blog, "Andrew's Blog"

Celia Keenan-Bolger (BFA 2007), Broadway actress who originated the role of Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; Éponine in the revival of Les Misérables

Nancy Kovack, film and TV actress; attended U-M at age 15 and graduated by 19; appeared on Star Trek and Bewitched,; in 1969 she was nominated for an Emmy for an appearance on Mannix

Mark Lenard, actor, including several Star Trek movies

Matt Letscher (BA 1992), film and TV actor; The Mask of Zorro

Lucy Liu (BFA 1990), actress, known for Ally McBeal, "Elementary" and for the movie versions of Charlie's Angels

Michael L. Maguire, actor, known for his role as Enjolras in the original Broadway production of Les Misérables, which won him a Tony Award in 1987

Strother Martin (BA 1947), actor, member of the diving team

Margo Martindale, film, stage and television actress; Emmy award winner

Jeff Marx (BFA 1993), Tony Award-winning co-creator, composer, and lyricist of the hit Broadway musical Avenue Q

Bob McGrath (1954), actor, singer, and writer; "Bob" from the PBS' Sesame Street

Marian Mercer (BA SMTD), 1969 Tony Award-winning actress

Mark Metcalf (BA 1968), actor in television and film

Eric Millegan, Bones

Jack O'Brien, director, producer, writer, and lyricist; three-time Tony Award winner

Beverley Owen (née Ogg, sometimes credited as Beverly Owen), known for having played Marilyn Munster

Eren Ozker (1970), puppeteer and Muppet performer

Rob Paulsen class of 1975,actor(attended 1975 only)

Martin Pakledinaz (MFA 1976), two-time Tony Award winner

David Paymer (BA 1975), character actor, Carpool, Get Shorty

Jean Peters, actress

Gilda Radner (BA 1970), actress and comedian, known for her work on Saturday Night Live for which she won an Emmy in 1978

Ted Raimi (BA 1983), actor, seaQuest DSV and Xena: Warrior Princess

Joey Richter (BFA 2011), actor, singer, member of StarKid Productions

William Russ, actor; the father on Boy Meets World

Ellen Sandweiss (MA in Theatre Management), B-movie actress; has performed in musical theatre as a dancer and pop singer, and in a one-woman show of Jewish music

Martha Scott, actor, Our Town (Academy award nomination), The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur

Jeffrey Seller is an Tony Award winning American theatrical producer best known for his work on Rent (1996), Avenue Q (2003), In the Heights (2008) and Hamilton (2015), as well as inventing Broadway's first rush ticket and lottery ticket policies.

Miriam Shor (BFA), film, stage, and television actress

Douglas Sills, actor

Randy and Jason Sklar, professionally known as the Sklar Brothers, identical twin comedians

StarKid Productions, the cast and creators of YouTube sensation, A Very Potter Musical

Jennifer Laura Thompson (BFA 1991), Tony Award-nominated actress, played Galinda in the broadway musical Wicked

Carlos Valdes (SMTD BA 2011), actor and musician , The Flash

Kapila Vatsyayan (MA), Indian arts scholar; founder and director of Indira Kalakendra

James Wolk (BFA 2007), actor, Front of the Class, The Crazy Ones

Writers of fiction and nonfiction

Daniel Aaron (BA 1933), author of many articles and books, including Men of Good Hope: A Story of American Progressives, The Unwritten War: Writers of the Civil War and, with Richard Hofstadter and William Miller, The Structure of American History

Megan Abbott (BA), author of crime fiction and of a non-fiction analysis of hardboiled crime fiction; Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award in 2008 for Queenpin

Saladin Ahmed (BA), Arab-American science fiction and fantasy writer and poet

Uwem Akpan (MFA 2007), Nigerian author; Jesuit priest; won Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book and the PEN/Beyond Margins Award for Say You're One of Them

Jennifer Allison (BA), author of mystery novels and the Gilda Joyce children's series

Max Apple (BA 1963), author of The Oranging of America (1976, short stories), Zip: A Novel of the Left and the Right (1978, novel), Three Stories (1983, short stories), Free Agents (1984, novel), The Propheteers: A Novel (1987, novel), and Roommates: My Grandfather's Story (1994, biography of his grandfather)

Robert Arthur, Jr. (BA 1930), writer, novelist, editor; created the "The Three Investigators" mystery series for young readers and worked on the anthology TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Robert Asprin (MDNG: 1964-1965), science fiction and fantasy author

Kevin Boyle (PhD), author; professor of history; his 2004 book, Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, won the National Book Award

Sven Birkerts (AB 1973), essayist and author of The Gutenberg Elegies, and son of Emeritus Faculty member Gunnar Birkerts

Philip Breitmeyer (AB 1947), wrote Lightning Ridge! Further Adventures of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Michael Byers (MFA), writer

Juliet Winters Carpenter (BA, MA 1976), translator of Japanese, author

Meg Waite Clayton (LAW: JD), The Language of Light was a finalist for Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize; The Wednesday Sisters became a national bestseller and a book club favorite

James Oliver "Jim" Curwood (MDNG: 1899-1900), action-adventure writer and conservationist

Jose Y. Dalisay Jr. (MFA 1988), Filipino writer

Underwood Dudley (PhD 1965), known for his popular writing about crank mathematics

Elizabeth Ehrlich, wrote Miriam's Kitchen

Neal Gabler (LAW: JD), U-M student in the late 1960s who filed so often for the Michigan Daily that at its 50th anniversary, he was cited as having produced more column inches than anyone else in the paper's history; author of An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood (1989), Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity (1994), Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality (1998), and Walt Disney: Triumph of the American Imagination (2006)

Mary Gaitskill, author of Bad Behavior (1988), Two Girls, Fat and Thin (1991), Because They Wanted To (1997) (stories), Veronica (2005)

Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. (AB 1933), wrote Cheaper by the Dozen

Connie Glaser (MA), author, speaker, and columnist on the topics of women's leadership and communications

Josh Greenfeld, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, author of A Child Called Noah trilogy

Judith Guest (BA 1959), wrote Ordinary People, later turned into an Academy-Award winning film

Cathy Guisewite (BA 1972), author, creator of Cathy comic strip

Aaron Hamburger (BA 1995), writer; his short story collection The View from Stalin's Head (2004) was awarded the Rome Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy in Rome; his novel Faith for Beginners (2005) was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award

Gabrielle Hamilton (MFA), owner and manager of Prune restaurant in Manhattan; author of Blood Bones and Butter; recipient of the James Beard award for best chef

Steve Hamilton (AB 1983), wrote Blood is the Sky, an Alex McKnight mystery; his 1999 novel A Cold Day in Paradise won an Edgar Award; his 2010 novel The Lock Artist won an Edgar for Best Novel; one of only five authors to win the award twice

Robert Hayden (MA 1944), Professor of Poetry 1969-1980

Raelynn Hillhouse (HHRS: MA, PhD 1993), author of spy novels; national security expert; blogger (The Spy Who Billed Me); political scientist

Matthew Hittinger (MFA 2004), author of the poetry collection Skin Shift (2012), and the chapbook Pear Slip (2007); winner of the Spire Press 2006 Chapbook Award

James Avery Hopwood (AB 1905), playwright, established the U-M Hopwood Awards; one of the premier playwrights of the jazz age; at one time had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway

James Hynes, novelist

Randa Jarrar, Palestinian-American novelist, short story writer, and translator

Laura Kasischke (MFA 1987), author and Guggenheim award winner, In a Perfect World, Suspicious River, White Bird in a Blizzard, The Life Before Her Eyes, Boy Heaven, Be Mine, Feathered

Jane Kenyon (BA 1970, MA 1972), poet and wife of former Michigan professor Donald Hall, U.S. Poet Laureate

Elizabeth Kostova (MFA 2004), writer; her first novel, The Historian, was published in 2005, and has become a best-seller

Kathryn Lasky (BA 1966), children's author and nonfiction writer

Daniel Lyons (MFA 1992), writer; senior editor at Forbes magazine; writer at Newsweek; editor of ReadWrite

Ross Macdonald (MA 1942, PhD 1952), wrote the Lew Archer mystery series

Janet Malcolm, 1955, writer for The New Yorker; wrote In the Freud Archives

Sebastian Matthews (MFA), poet and writer

Thomas McGuane (MDNG), novelist

Richelle Mead (BA), bestselling fantasy author

Brad Meltzer (BA 1992), wrote The Zero Game, The Tenth Justice, Dead Even, The First Counsel, and The Millionaires; creator of TV series Jack and Bobby

Walter Miller (MA 1844), classics scholar; first to translate the Iliad into English in the native dactylic hexameter

Sara Moulton (BA 1974), author of Sara Moulton Cooks at Home, Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals, and Sara Moulton's Everyday Family Dinners

Nami Mun (MFA), Korean American novelist and short story writer

Davi Napoleon (AB 1966, AM 1968), wrote Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater

Bich Minh Nguyen (MFA), novelist; American Book Award for Short Girls

Frank O’Hara (MA 1951); author of A City Winter and Other Poems,Oranges: 12 Pastorals, Second Avenue, Odes, Lunch Poems, Love Poems

Patrick O'Keeffe (MFA), winner of the Hopwood Program's Chamberlain Award for Creative Writing for Above the Bar; instructor in U-M's Sweetland Writing Center; won the 2006 Story Prize for The Hill Road; won 2006 Whiting Writers Award

Susan Olasky (AB 1975), author

Susan Orlean (AB 1976), wrote The Orchid Thief, made into the movie Adaptation

John Patric (attended 1924-25), wrote for National Geographic and Reader's Digest in the 1930s and 1940s

Otto Penzler, editor of mystery fiction; proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City

Marge Piercy (AB 1957), wrote Braided Lives and Fly Away Home; Hopwood Program award winner

Elwood Reid, novelist and short story writer

Kathryn Reiss (MFA), award-winning author of children's and young adult fiction

Matthew Rohrer (BA), poet and Hopwood Award winner

Ari Roth, playwright and artistic director of Theater J

Preeta Samarasan (MFA 2006), wrote Evening is the Whole Day

Ruth L. Schwartz (MFA 14985), poet

Allen Seager, author, Amos Berry and A Frieze of Girls

William Shawn (MDNG: 1925-1927), The New Yorker editor 1952–1987

Porter Shreve (MFA), author; professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Purdue University

John Sinclair (BA 1964), poet, one-time manager of the band MC5

Hubert Skidmore, had written six novels by the time he was 30, including Hawk's Nest; married to Maritta Wolff

Betty Smith (1921–22, 1927, 1931), author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Robert Traver, pen name of John D. Voelker (JD 1928), wrote Anatomy of a Murder

David Treuer (PhD 1999), writer

Chris Van Allsburg (BA 1972), author and illustrator; best known for Jumanji and The Polar Express, both made into films

Edmund White (AB 1962), writer for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker

Stewart Edward White (PhD 1895, MA 1903), author

Nancy Willard (BA, PhD), 1982 Newbery Medal for A Visit to William Blake's Inn

Maritta Wolff (BA 1940), author of Whistle Stop, called by Sinclair Lewis "the most important novel of the year;" also wroteAbout Lyddy Thomas (1947), Back of Town (1952), The Big Nickelodeon (1956) and Buttonwood (1962)

Sarah Zettel (BA), science fiction, fantasy, and mystery author

Misc.

Nina Davuluri (BS 2011), first Indian American Miss America (Miss America 2014); first to perform a Bollywood dance on that pageant's stage