Rivka Galchen (born April 19, 1976) is a Canadian American writer. Her first novel, Atmospheric Disturbances, was published in 2008 and was awarded the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. She is the author of five books and a contributor of journalism and essays to The New Yorker.
Rivka Galchen | |
---|---|
Born | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | April 19, 1976
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | Canadian, American |
Education | Princeton University (AB) Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (MD) Columbia University (MFA) |
Notable works | Atmospheric Disturbances (2008) |
Notable awards | William J. Saroyan International Prize for Fiction |
Early life
editGalchen was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Israeli academics.[1] When she was in preschool, her parents relocated to the United States.[2] She grew up in Norman, Oklahoma, where her father, Tzvi Gal-chen, was a professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma and her mother was a computer programmer at the National Severe Storms Laboratory.[3][4]
Education
editGalchen received her M.D. from Mount Sinai in 2003.[5] After medical school, she earned a MFA in 2006 from Columbia University, where she was a Robert Bingham fellow.[5]
Career
editIn 2006, Galchen received the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award for women writers.[5]
Her first novel, Atmospheric Disturbances, was published in May 2008.[6][7][8] The novel was a finalist for the Mercantile Library's 2008 John Sargent, Sr., First Novel Prize,[9] the Canadian Writers' Trust Fiction Prize,[10] and the 2008 Governor General's Award.[11][12]
Galchen teaches writing at Columbia University.[13] In 2010, The New Yorker chose her as one of its "20 Under 40".[14]
Galchen served as the Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fiction Fellow for the Spring 2011 term at the American Academy in Berlin.[15] In 2015, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship.[16]
Galchen's short-story collection American Innovations was published in 2014.[17][18][19][20][21] It was longlisted for the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize[22] and received the Danuta Gleed Literary Award.[23] Each story is based on a well-known short story by another author, but switches the narrator from male to female and changes other elements.[1]
In 2016, Galchen published Little Labors, a book of essays about motherhood.[24]
In 2021, Galchen published her second novel, Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch.[25] The novel was shortlisted for the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.[26]
Galchen writes for several national magazines, including The New Yorker,[27] Harper's Magazine,[28] and The New York Times Magazine.[29] She contributes criticism and essays to the London Review of Books.[30]
Bibliography
editNovels
edit- Atmospheric Disturbances. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2008.
- Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2021.
For children
edit- Rat Rule 79. New York: Restless Books. 2019.
Collection
edit- American Innovations: Stories. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2014.
References
edit- ^ a b Kellogg, Carolyn (2014-05-01). "Rivka Galchen talks about putting a female twist on iconic stories". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
- ^ "Heartbreak and loss lie beneath fantastic tale". The Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ "Rivka Galchen, M.D. from Oklahoma Is the Latest Successor to Pynchon". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on 2013-01-30. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ a b c "The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards 2006". Archived from the original on 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
- ^ Schillinger, Liesl (July 13, 2008). "Book Review | 'Atmospheric Disturbances,' by Rivka Galchen" – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Wood, James (June 16, 2008). "She's Not Herself" – via www.newyorker.com.
- ^ The novel features a character with her father's name, Tzvi Gal-Chen, a fictional professor of meteorology and a fellow of the fictional Royal Academy of Meteorology. See "She's Not Herself: A first novel about marriage and madness". The New Yorker. 16 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
- ^ "2008 John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize Finalists". The Mercantile Library for Fiction. Archived from the original on 2008-05-31. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
- ^ "2008 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Finalists". The Writers' Trust. Archived from the original on December 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
- ^ "Rivka Galchen". Columbia University. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
- ^ "Past Winners and Finalists". Governor General’s Literary Awards. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- ^ "Rivka Galchen". Columbia University. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
- ^ "Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie". The New Yorker. 2010-06-07. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- ^ "Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fiction Fellow, Class of Spring 2011". American Academy in Berlin. Archived from the original on January 24, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
- ^ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Rivka Galchen".
- ^ Kelly, Hillary (2014-05-06). ""American Innovations" by Rivka Galchen Reviewed". New Republic. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- ^ Langer, Adam (May 7, 2014). "Short Stories That Riff Playfully on Some Enduring Forebears". The New York Times.
- ^ Kirsch, Adam (May 8, 2014). "Rivka Galchen Is Not Your Mommy". Tablet.
- ^ Gartner, Zsuzsi (May 16, 2014). "American Innovations: Canadian-born Rivka Galchen hits it out of the park again and again". The Globe and Mail.
- ^ Cheuse, Alan (May 14, 2014). "Everyday Life Is a Rich Mine Of Absurdity In 'American Innovations'". NPR.
- ^ "2014 Finalists". Scotia Bank Giller Prize. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- ^ "Winners announced for the 2014 Danuta Gleed Literary Award". The Writer's Union of Canada. 25 May 2015. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- ^ Ruhl, Sarah (2016-05-12). "'Little Labors,' by Rivka Galchen". New York Times. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ Hillary Kelly, "Rivka Galchen’s Unsettling Powers". Vulture, June 7, 2021.
- ^ Deborah Dundas, "‘May the force be with you’: Five finalists for the first Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize announced". Toronto Star, September 29, 2021.
- ^ "Contributors – Rivka Galchen". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- ^ "Rivka Galchen". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- ^ McCarthy, Lauren (10 July 2020). "Contributors - Rivka Galchen". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
- ^ "Contributors - Rivka Galchen". The London Review of Books. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
External links
editInterviews
editReviews
edit- New York Times review of Atmospheric Disturbances
- Salon review of Atmospheric Disturbances
- James Wood review in "The New Yorker"
- "New York Times" review of "American Innovations"
- "Globe and Mail" review of "American Innovations"