Adam's debut novel, Mr. Peanut, a 2010 New York Times Notable Book, was also named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New Republic, and The Economist. His story collection Ladies and Gentlemen, included "In the Basement,'' a finalist for the BBC International Story Prize. He was the Mary Ellen von der Heyden fellow in fiction at the American Academy in Berlin, as well as a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. His current novel, Playworld, published in January 2025. He is the editor of the Sewanee Review.