Kushner wrote the eBook THE BONES OF MARIANNA: A REFORM SCHOOL, A TERRIBLE SECRET, AND A HUNDRED-YEAR FIGHT FOR JUSTICE. He wrote the nonfiction graphic novels illustrated by Koren Shadmi: RISE OF THE DUNGEON MASTER: GARY GYGAX AND THE CREATION OF D&D, A FOR ANONYMOUS: HOW A MYSTERIOUS HACKER COLLECTIVE TRANSFORMED THE WORLD, and EASY TO LEARN, DIFFICULT TO MASTER: PONG, ATARI, AND THE DAWN OF THE VIDEO GAME. Two collections of his magazine stories are available as audiobooks, THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS GEEK: AND MORE TRUE HACKING STORIES, and PREPARE TO MEET THY DOOM: AND MORE TRUE GAMING STORIES.
Kushner is a contributing editor of Outside, and has written for other magazines including Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, New York Times Magazine, New York, GQ, and Business Insider. He has been an essayist for National Public Radio Weekend Edition Sunday. His work has been adapted into the serial podcasts ALLIGATOR CANDY, COLD TRUTH, AND RENAISSANCE TEXAS. His writing is featured in several “best of” anthologies: The Best American Crime Reporting, The Columbia Journalism Review’s Best Business Writing, The Best Music Writing, and The Best American Travel Writing. He won of the New York Press Club award for Best Feature Reporting. THE BONES OF MARIANNA was selected by Amazon as a Best Digital Single of 2013. NPR named ALLIGATOR CANDY one of the best books of 2016. The ALLIGATOR CANDY podcast received several awards including the Gold medal for Best Personal Lives Podcast from the New York Radio Awards, the Best True Crime and Best Podcast Experience from the Popcon Podcast Awards, a top 10 Podcast of the Year from the Podcast Academy’s Ambie awards, and honorable mentions for Best Limited Series and Best Crime & Justice from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Science’s Webby Awards.
The film SILK ROAD is based on Kushner’s Rolling Stone article “Dead End on Silk Road.” ZOLA is based on his Rolling Stone article “Zola Tells All” and the tweets of A’Ziah “Zola” King. Upcoming film and television adaptations of his work include a Spike Lee musical film based on Kushner’s Esquire story ALL RISE about the launch of Viagra; a film based on his Vanity Fair article, THE CHURCH OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY starring Christian Bale. Amma Asante is writing and directing a series based on Kushner’s book LEVITTOWN. GAMECHANGERS, a BBC film, is inspired by his book JACKED. Kushner has been featured in several documentaries including WHAT WILL BECOME OF US?, a feature about Holocaust survivor and shopping mall magnate Frank Lowy, and the Peacock docuseries THE BATTLE FOR JUSTINA PELLETIER, based on his Rolling Stone article “The Hacker Who Cared Too Much.”
Kushner has taught as a Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University, and as an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University. He was a producer and writer for SonicNet, one of the first music destinations online. He has served on the board of directors of Good Grief, a childhood grief support organization. His newsletter, Disruptor, can be found here.
Author illustration by Koren Shadmi