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The pint-sized wunderkind is the author of the 2005 novel Indecision and the co-editor of n+1.

Armed with a Harvard degree and an MFA from Columbia, Colorado native Kunkel landed on the literary scene as the co-editor of n+1—a journal aimed, humbly, at "the revitalization of civilization." It was his 2005 novel, Indecision, though, that had critics clambering over one another to declare him the latest Voice of a Generation. The story of an aimless 28-year-old who takes a new drug for indecisiveness and discovers the meaning of life, the book was praised by such wide-ranging authorities as Jay McInerney and Holden Caulfield (as conjured by the Times' literary gatekeeper Michiko Kakutani). However, Kunkel has yet to follow up with another novel.

Since its launch in 2004, the buzzy n+1 has been a lightning rod for criticism. The editors have made no secret of their ambition to become "the New New York Intellectuals," nor of their disdain for n+1's rival, the Dave Eggers-created, Heidi Julavits-edited anti-snark organ The Believer. Carried at indie bookstores and big chains in urban areas, n+1 continues to alternately enthrall and disgust literary types with articles such as an analysis of the semiotics of the Payless Shoes logo.