Michael Chabon
AGE: 43
OCCUPATION: Novelist, screenwriter, columnist, short-story writer
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 0
PRO: One of the preeminent literary authors of his generation. Chabon's acclaimed The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay earned him the Pulitzer prize in 2001 and his latest novel, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, will be published in May.
CON: His recent devotion to mixing genre and literary fiction has been met with mixed criticism. The New York Times called his work "enough to send readers back into the cold but reliable arms of The New Yorker."