Nell freudenberger interview
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Nell Freudenberger
Goodreads Author
Born
in New York, New York, The United StatesGenre
Literature & Fiction, Short Stories, Parenting & Families
Member Since
April 2013
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Nell Freudenberger is the author of the novel The Dissident and the story collection Lucky Girls, winner of the PEN/Malamud Award and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; both books were New York Times Book Review Notables. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and a Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Fellowship from the New York Public Library, she was named one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists and one of The New Yorker’s “20 Under 40.” She lives in Brooklyn with her family.Nell Freudenberger is the author of the novel The Dissident and the story collection Lucky Girls, winner of the PEN/Malamud Award and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; both books were New York Times Book Review Notables. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and
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Nell Freudenberger was featured in The New Yorker’s 20 Under 40 Fiction Issue. Her story will appear later in the summer.
When were you born?
April 21, 1975.
Where?
New York City.
Where do you live now?
New York City.
What was the first piece of fiction you read that had an impact on you?
Probably “D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths” for children.
How long did it take you to write your first book?
Two years.
Did you ever consider not becoming a writer?
Yes. I thought seriously about applying to medical school, and also about staying on in Asia (after a year of teaching English in Thailand) and doing development work. No one else thought I would be good at those things, though, and that was probably right.
What, in your opinion, makes a piece of fiction work?
I think the only thing a reader needs is an authentic voice—I mean the ability to make someone feel that the thing you’re telling is worth hearing. Most good fiction also has a character the writer seems to know more deeply than anyone can actually be known in life, but a few unusual writers can ma
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Nell Freudenberger
American novelist, essayist, and short-story writer
Nell Freudenberger (born April 21, 1975 in New York City) is an American novelist, essayist, and short-story writer.
Education
Freudenberger graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts[1] and received a Master of Fine Arts from New York University.[2]
Career
Fiction
Freudenberger's fiction has appeared in Granta, The Paris Review and The New Yorker.[3][4] After her collection Lucky Girls was published in 2003, she received the PEN/Malamud Award, a short story prize sponsored by PEN International. When Freudenberger's novel The Dissident appeared in 2006, she received the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Fiction.
In June 2010, Freudenberger was featured along with fellow writers Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Karen Russell, ZZ Packer, and Gary Shteyngart in The New Yorker's "20 Under 40 Fiction" issue. Per the magazine, these authors represented "Twenty young writers who capture the inventiveness and the vitality of
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