Walter Norris Kirn (born August 3, 1962)[1] is an American novelist, literary critic, and essayist.

"[2] Following that, he obtained a second undergraduate degree in English Literature at Oxford University, where he was a Keasbey Memorial Foundation Scholar.

Kirn's 2001 novel, Up in the Air, has been characterized as a literary chronotope relating to the genre of road narratives.

Starring George Clooney and Anna Kendrick, it was a commercial success and went on to receive critical acclaim as well as numerous nominations and awards.

In 2023, Kirn and David Samuels launched County Highway, a magazine about America in the form of a nineteenth-century newspaper.