Brad Zellar

Brad Zellar (born November 16, 1961) is an American author and journalist. His work has been featured in TIME and was listed in TIME’s Best of 2011: The Photobooks We Loved. The Coen brothers film A Serious Man, nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Picture, was partly based off Zellar's book the Suburban World: The Norling Photos.

Childhood
Zellar described his childhood as having grown up in "a very active and loving family" as well as being a fairly "social kid". At the same time, he notes that much of work was inspired from his "lonely" adolescence despite having been in an always "crowded house". The desire for "privacy and solitude" brought about his affection for isolation amongst the "gravel roads surrounded by fields, and I loved to make that walk and have that feeling, that realization that it wasn't hard at all to disappear in this huge country".

Zellar described that the "realization that it wasn't hard at all to disappear in this huge country" and his attention to "invisible people on the sidewalks of [Minneapolis]" would largely influence his books. Jim Walsh summarized, "For 20 years, Zellar has made a career out of ferreting out some of the most fascinating characters that Minnesota’s margins has to offer."

Writer
Zellar is a Twin Cities journalist, and author of several photography books. He has worked as writer and for the City Pages, the Utne Reader, and as the senior editor for The Rake. Zellar has collaborated with Alec Soth on a number of books and photography projects such as The LBM Dispatches (Little Brown Mushroom) series. These dispatches would include series Ohio, New York and Michigan.

In 2008, Zellar wrote the Suburban World: The Norling Photos for the Minnesota Historical Society with a forward by Soth. The book was a collection of the "complete photo negative and print archive" of Irwin Norling, an engineer at Honeywell and freelance photographer for the Bloomington police department. This book served as the inspiration for the Coen brothers feature film, A Serious Man for which the screenplay and film is partly based upon. The film went on to earn a Golden Globe nomination for Michael Stuhlbarg, a place on both the American Film Institute's and National Board of Review of Motion Pictures' Top 10 Film Lists of 2009, and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Coens, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "wanted to create the era when we grew up, so we relied a lot on our memories," which was set in 1967 in Minnesota, the same era and location as Zellar's book.

Zeller also collaborated with Soth on the House of Coates that featured found photos by Lester B. Morrison. The story centres around Morrison who, during the record cold winter in 2010/2011, stayed in hotels along U.S. Route 52. It was speculated by some, that Morrison was in fact Soth, though both would later confirm they both met Morrison.

In 2012, Zellar's book, Conductors of the Moving World was the recipient of the D&AD '2012 Photography for Design Professional Award'. He has also received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, and the Minnesota Magazine and Publishing Association.

Zellar is also a noted blogger, having been a professional blog writer for City Pages and The Rake, and having found a popular audience in Ireland and Australia, according to Margaret A. Pribel of the Minnesota Magazine and Publishing Association.

Personal life
Brad Zellar is the brother of musician Martin Zellar. Brad appears on the cover of Martin's album Billy's Live Bait as the 'Live Bait' attendant.

Zellar lived for a time in Austin, Minnesota but has since moved to the Twin Cities.

Books

 * |first=Brad|last2=|year=2006|title=Twin Cities Noir|publisher=Akashic Books, New York|isbn=9781888451979}}
 * |first=Brad|last2=|first2=Alec|year=2008|title=Suburban World: The Norling Photos|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press|isbn=9780873516099}}
 * |first=Brad|last2=|first2=Alec|year=2010|title=Three Valleys|publisher=Little Brown Mushroom|isbn=}}
 * |first=Brad|last2=|first2=Alec|year=2011|title=The 1968 Project: A Nation Coming of Age|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press|isbn=9780873518420}}
 * |first=Brad|last2=|first2=Eizo|year=2011|title=Conductors of the Moving World|publisher=Little Brown Mushroom|isbn=9780615453088}}
 * |first=Brad|last2=|first2=Alec|year=2012|title=Michigan|publisher=Little Brown Mushroom|asin=B00BT1KY14}}
 * |first=Brad|last2=|first2=Alec|year=2012|title=Ohio|publisher=Little Brown Mushroom|asin=B008ESQB4Y}}
 * |first=Brad|last2=|first2=Alec|year=2012|title=Upstate|publisher=Little Brown Mushroom|isbn=}}
 * |first=Brad|last2=|first2=Alec|last3=|first3=Lester B.|year=2012|title=House of Coates|publisher=Little Brown Mushroom|isbn=9781199591036}}
 * |first=Brad|last2=|year=2012|title=Aperture: Winter 2012|publisher=|isbn=9781597112079}}