Rachel Kushner

Rachel Kushner
Born 1968 (age 47–48)
Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
Occupation Novelist, Essayist
Alma mater University of California, Berkeley
Period 1996–present
Genre fiction
Notable works The Flamethrowers (2013), Telex from Cuba (2008)

Rachel Kushner (born 1968) is an American writer, known for her novels Telex from Cuba (2008) and The Flamethrowers (2013).

Early life

Kushner was born in Eugene, Oregon, and moved to San Francisco in 1979. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley,[1] and earned her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University in 2001.[2]

Career

Journalism

After completing her MFA, Kushner lived in New York City for 8 years, where she was an editor at Grand Street and BOMB. She has written widely on contemporary art, including numerous features in Artforum.[3] She is currently an editor of Soft Targets, praised by The New York Times as an "excellent, Brooklyn-based journal of art, fiction and poetry."[4]

Controversies

Ms. Kushner decided to withdraw from participating in gala following PEN nominations in March 2015 wherein PEN American Center gave its annual Freedom of Expression Courage award to the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. She was one of the six authors to do so, the others being Michael Ondaatje, Peter Carey, Francine Prose, Teju Cole, and Taiye Selasi.

Novels

Kushner's most recent novel, The Flamethrowers, was published by Scribner in April 2013. Vanity Fair hailed it for its "blazing prose," which "ignites the 70s New York art scene and Italian underground." In The New Yorker, critic James Wood praised the book as "scintillatingly alive. It ripples with stories, anecdotes, set-piece monologues, crafty egotistical tall tales, and hapless adventures: Kushner is never not telling a story... It succeeds because it is so full of vibrantly different stories and histories, all of them particular, all of them brilliantly alive."[5] The Flamethrowers was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award.[6] "The Flamethrowers" was named a top book of 2013 by[7] New York Magazine, Time Magazine, The New Yorker, O, The Oprah Magazine, New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Vogue, Wall Street Journal, Salon, Slate, Daily Beast, Flavorwire, The Millions, The Jewish Daily Forward, and Austin American-Statesman.

Kushner's first novel, Telex from Cuba, was published by Scribner in July 2008. It was the cover review of the July 6, 2008 issue of The New York Times Book Review, where it was described as a "multi-layered and absorbing" novel whose "sharp observations about human nature and colonialist bias provide a deep understanding of the revolution's causes." Telex from Cuba was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award.[8][9]

Awards and honors

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ National Book Foundation Rachel Kushner Biography
  2. ↑ Columbia University School of the Arts, "Rachel Kushner ('01) Releases Second Novel To Critical Success," July 26, 2013.
  3. ↑ Author Page on Simon & Schuster website
  4. ↑ Cotter, Holland (2006-08-16). “At a Group Show in Chelsea, the Art Is Sharp but the Categories Blurry”. New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.
  5. ↑ James Wood, "Youth in Revolt," The New Yorker, April 8, 2013.
  6. 1 2 National Book Awards - 2013. National Book Foundation. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Rachel Kushner News".
  8. 1 2 "National Book Awards - 2008". National Book Foundation. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  9. ↑ Cokal, Susan (July 6, 2008). "Livin' La Vida Local". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ Dave McNary, "Rachel Kushner Set as Telluride Film Fest Guest Director", Variety, March 31, 2015.
  11. ↑ "The 2014 Folio Prize Shortlist is Announced". Folio Prize. 10 February 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  12. ↑ Gaby Wood (10 February 2014). "Folio Prize 2013: The Americans are coming, but not the ones we were expecting". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Kalamazoo College Graduation".
  14. ↑ "Guggenheim Fellow Rachel Kushner".

External links

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