During publication week for ELEVEN HOURS I did three radio interviews: with Melissa Block for NPR's Weekend Edition, for The Brian Lehrer Show, and for Radio Woodstock. You can listen via the links.
ELEVEN HOURS in The New York Times
Jen McDonald reviews the new novel for the paper of record, and this author is truly pleased.
Slate: on childbirth (and the lack of it) in literature
A manifesto of sorts, from yours truly, over at Slate.
The Millions review of ELEVEN HOURS
Eleven Hours gets a two-fer over at The Millions! I so appreciated this thoughtful and thorough review, which honors me by dealing with my earlier books as well as the new one.
Interview at The Millions
Claire Cameron interviewed me for The Millions. I loved our talk about "big" vs. "small" books, compression vs. expansion, Kafka vs. George Eliot.
BOOKLIST praise for ELEVEN HOURS
"Erens’ short novel is beautiful, contained, and remarkable. That a novel about the universal, essential, yet ordinary and often addressed process of bringing about new life could be so fresh is something readers can get lost considering." (May 1 issue)
ELEVEN HOURS receives starred Publishers Weekly review (and is their Pick of the Week)
I can't really ask for better than this: "Written with incredible clarity, this third novel from Erens (The Virgins) is a wonder, shifting between two protagonists with ease to tell a deeply personal narrative of childbirth, complete with tension, horror, and deep, mature emotion. This novel does not sentimentalize the delivery of a child but rather examines the surprise—mental and physical—that accompanies it. Labor stories are as old as time, but Erens's novel feels incredibly fresh and vivid. An outstanding accomplishment."
ELEVEN HOURS receives starred Kirkus review
Kirkus starred reviews are very precious in this business, and I've never received one before. Now I have, for Eleven Hours. The entire review made me very happy because it suggested that the reviewer read the novel in very much the spirit in which I wrote it (this is far from always the case, even in reviews full of praise). The review is too long to reproduce here in full, but I'll quote from the very end: ". . . by combining portraits of a woman at the beginning of her pregnancy and a woman on the brink of motherhood, Erens shows that there is not one moment between these two experiences without peril. Powerful—aesthetically and viscerally."
Eleven Hours makes THE WEEK's "28 Books to Read in 2016"
Very happy to be in the company of Alexander Chee, Sarah Bakewell, Dana Spiotta, Melissa Broder, James McBride, Marie N'Diaye, Roxane Gay . . . and, well, everyone on this list.
Eleven Hours is "Most Anticipated" AGAIN (Flavorwire)
This time Eleven Hours makes Flavorwire's list of books they're waiting to see in 2016--along with works by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Alexander Chee, Dana Spiotta, Roxane Gay, Louise Erdrich, and Julian Barnes . . . whew!
Eleven Hours is "Most Anticipated"
Like many other passionate readers, I swear by The Millions' twice-yearly "Most Anticipated" list of upcoming book publications. So I'm thrilled that Eleven Hours has been included in the list for the first half of 2016. There are so many other writers here whose work I admire that I can't begin to tag them. Suffice it to say I am flattered. Thanks for making my new year, The Millions.
Tin House Summer Workshop
I'm delighted that I'll be a guest at this July's Tin House Summer Workshop in Portland, OR. Get a look at this lineup of faculty and visitors!
The Lifted Veil
The current issue (#66) of Tin House features a short piece by me on George Eliot's phenomenally strange novella The Lifted Veil, as well as fiction by Dorothy Allison and Helen Phillips, poetry by Sharon Olds and Cornelius Eady, and a provocative essay on gender in writing and publishing entitled "Pandering," by Claire Vaye Watkins. And much more! For now, the piece can be read online here (note: you have to scroll down to the section Lost & Found and select the piece).
The Talk of Their Town
The Sunday, December 6 edition of The New York Times Book Review carries my review of two New Yorker-related books: Reporting Always, by Lillian Ross, and Cast of Characters, by Thomas Vinciguerra. Read it here.
Knausgaard's Triumph
I've got a new piece in the Fall 2015 issue of Virginia Quarterly Review on Karl Ove Knausgaard. While it seems as if hundreds of thousands of words have already been written about this author, I felt that certain things had not been said. Even those who love his work often throw around words like "boring" and "narcissistic" to describe it; I argue Nay. I also take on what seems to me the too-easy charge that if a woman had written the same six volumes, they would not have become an international sensation.
Zone
Probably my first and last published translation ever: Apollinaire's "Zone" a poem (really an event!) I've long loved. In The Brooklyn Rail's monthly "In Translation" feature.
Teaching Fellowships
I've learned I've been awarded teaching fellowships at both the 2015 Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and the 2015 Wesleyan Writers Conference. I'm eagerly looking forward to both conferences and to getting to know the fellows, faculties, and contributors at each.
Oh, Flavorwire!
Oh, Flavorwire! You named The Virgins one of the 50 Greatest Summer Reads of All Time!
Robin Black Essay
Novelist and short-story writer Robin Black (If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This; Life Drawing) has penned a provocative piece for The New York Times in which she argues that literary prizes should not so often be age-based (i.e., geared to the young). I was tickled to find myself mentioned there, along with Edith Pearlman and Rachel Cantor (nice company!), for being a writer who only "emerged" after the age of forty. I would add my own opinion that both writers and the literary community could benefit from more prestigious prizes being given for novels that are not first novels. (For instance, PEN has no general award for "later" fiction, only debuts.)