Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Egan is a quintessential American novelist. She has been widely praised for her novels, from the frankness of A Visit from the Goon Squad to the emotional complexity of Manhattan Beach. As a result, she has won numerous awards for her work, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Although her writings often explore the theme of mutability and change, Egan's characters ultimately reveal the ways in which we humans remain connected—to one another, to our pasts, and to our ambitions.
Egan was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1962. Her father was a professor of urban studies, and her mother was a nurse. Egan grew up in San Francisco, and she developed an early interest in music and theater. She received her B.A. in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984 and then went on to get her M.A. in creative writing at the University of Florida in 1987. Since then, she has written and published multiple novels, short stories, and nonfiction works.
Egan has a striking and unique voice as an author. Her novels are known for having convoluted plots, explore a range of international and cultural backgrounds, and feature characters from different social and economic classes. She’s renowned for telling stories from multiple perspectives and for incorporating elements of nonfiction. What’s more, she’s skilled at creating compelling characters and exposing the underlying issues that underlie the novel’s action.
Egan’s debut novel, The Invisible Circus (1995), follows a young woman on a journey of self-discovery while tracing the lives of her parents in the 1960s. This work earned her a National Book Award nomination. Her second novel, Look At Me (2001), is an exploration of identity and truth in modern America. Set in an alternate version of the 1990s, this story follows an up-and-coming fashion model who becomes an unwitting pawn in a corporate intrigue.
Her next novel, The Keep (2005), is a thriller set in a remote castle inhabited by mysterious characters. In 2007, she published The Gathering, a collection of interconnecting love stories. In 2010, Egan released her most acclaimed work, A Visit from the Goon Squad, which explores how people shape and are shaped by technology. The novel follows a ragtag group of characters across four decades and earned Egan a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Her most recent novel is Manhattan Beach (2017), which follows a young woman from a working-class family who goes against social norms to pursue her dreams of a career in the Navy during WWII. Here, Egan explores themes about ambition, family, and identity in a narrative that has been praised for its emotional complexity.
In addition to these novels, Egan has published numerous short stories and nonfiction works, and she has won numerous awards for her writing. She was a MacArthur Fellow and was included on The New Yorker Magazine’s list of the “20 Under 40” literary luminaries. She also won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011 to allow her to work on her next novel, a historical novel set during the Gold Rush in California.
Few writers have achieved the critical acclaim that Jennifer Egan has, and her stories remain engaging and relevant even decades after they first appeared in print. By exploring characters, eras, and the larger forces that shape us, Egan’s works remain culturally significant for readers of all ages. Appreciated both for her relatability and for her powerful plots and characters, Egan’s works stand as an impressive example of storytelling.
