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Paul Auster, a filmmaker and author of “City of Glass” from the “The New York Trilogy” series, has died at age 77.
Auster died on Tuesday evening due to complications from lung cancer, his literary agent Carol Mann Agency confirmed to USA TODAY on Wednesday. The author was first diagnosed in 2022, according to the Associated Press.
Auster wrote more than 50 published works, including 1985’s “City of Glass,” which served as source material for the critically praised graphic novel by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli, as well as the award-winning novels “The Music of Chance,” “Leviathan” and “4321.” His work included novels, non-fiction, poetry, translations, letters and screenplays.
For his work, Auster won the Independent Spirit Award for best first screenplay for “Smoke” in 1995, was voted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2006, and he was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for “4321” in 2017.
The New Jersey native’s debut novel, 1984’s “Squeeze Play,” was written under the pen name Paul Benjamin. He made his debut as Paul Auster with “City of Glass,” followed by 1986’s “Ghosts” and “The Locked Room,” later collected as a single volume in “The New York Trilogy” in 1987.
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A film adaptation of “The Music of Chance” was released in 1993, starring James Spader, M. Emmet Walsh and Chris Penn, with Auster making a cameo in the movie.
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As a filmmaker, Auster directed and wrote the 1995 film “Blue in the Face” starring Harvey Keitel, Lou Reed and Michael J. Fox; the 1996 movie “Lulu on the Bridge” with Keitel, Mira Sorvino and Richard Edson; and the 2006 drama “The Inner Life of Martin Frost,” starring David Thewlis, Irène Jacob and Michael Imperioli.
His final published works, “Baumgartner” and “Bloodbath Nation,” were published in 2023.
Auster’s wife, fellow author Siri Hustvedt, announced on her unverified Instagram in 2023 that he had been diagnosed with cancer the year prior. The couple had one daughter together, singer and “Stealing Summers” actress Sophie Auster. He is also survived by his son, Daniel Auster.
