Amity Gaige

Amity Gaige was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, to an academic father and a psychologist mother. The Gaige family moved several times before settling in Reading, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Brown University, where she studied English and theater. She later obtained an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop (1999).{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://english.yale.edu/people/full-part-time-lecturers-creative-writers/amity-gaige|title=Amity Gaige | English|website=english.yale.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-02-02}}

Her first novel, O My Darling (Other Press, 2005){{cite web|url=http://www.otherpress.com/books/book?ean=9781590511749 |title=O My Darling |publisher=Other Press |access-date=2013-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923005111/http://www.otherpress.com/books/book?ean=9781590511749 |archive-date=2013-09-23 }} won her a place in the inaugural year of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 Awards.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalbook.org/5under35_2006.html |title=National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 Fiction Selections for 2006 |publisher=Nationalbook.org |date=2006-11-13 |access-date=2013-08-25}}

Her second novel, The Folded World, was published in 2007 (Other Press, Random House),{{cite web|url=http://www.otherpress.com/books/book?ean=9781590512487 |title=The Folded World |publisher=Other Press |access-date=2013-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923005126/http://www.otherpress.com/books/book?ean=9781590512487 |archive-date=2013-09-23 }} and garnered independent publishing awards that year.{{cite web|url=https://botya.forewordreviews.com/winners/2007/ |title=2007 Winners — Book of the Year Awards |publisher=Botya.forewordreviews.com |date= |access-date=2013-08-25}}{{cite web|url=http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=512#m3368 |title=for Monday, September 10, 2007 |publisher=Shelf Awareness |date=2007-09-10 |access-date=2013-08-25}}

Her third novel, Schroder (Twelve Books, 2013)[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/785786661 WorldCat book listing] was a shortlist nominee for Britain's inaugural GB£40,000 Folio Prize in 2014. The novel stirred controversy in its depiction of a reckless young father who flees with his six-year-old daughter on a road trip through New England after a custody battle. The author drew inspiration from the real-life Christian Gerhartsreiter story, though the book is not a novelization of that story. In style and form, Schroder drew comparison to works by Nabokov.{{cite news |author=Michael Patrick Brady |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2013/02/14/book-review-schroder-amity-gaige/PCF9efhpjvAi0DIVEx7rVI/story.html |title='Schroder' by Amity Gaige |type=Book review |newspaper=The Boston Globe |date=2013-02-14 |access-date=2013-08-25}}{{cite web|last=Wernecke |first=Ellen |url=https://www.avclub.com/amity-gaige-schroder-1798176298 |title=Amity Gaige: Schroder | Books |publisher=The A.V. Club |date=2013-04-01 |access-date=2013-08-25}} The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Schroder's closest literary relative is probably Lolita (minus the pedophilia),"{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2013-feb-21-la-ca-jc-amity-gaige-20130224-story.html |title=A real impostor's tale inspires fascinating fiction in 'Schroder' - Los Angeles Times |publisher=Articles.latimes.com |date=2013-02-21 |access-date=2013-08-25 |first=Janelle |last=Brown}} and Kathryn Schulz suggested that Gaige intended Schroder as an homage and an "appropriation" of Lolita in New York Magazine, which published a scratched-out image of Nabokov's cover art.{{cite web|last=Schulz |first=Kathryn |url=http://www.vulture.com/2013/02/kathryn-schulz-on-schroder-by-amity-gaige.html |title=Kathryn Schulz on Amity Gaige's Novel Schroder |publisher=Vulture |date=2013-02-18 |access-date=2013-08-25}} Gaige also cited Pale Fire as an influence in an interview with The New York Times' John Williams.{{cite news| url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/desperate-dad-amity-gaige-talks-about-schroder/ | work=The New York Times | first=John | last=Williams | title=Desperate Dad: Amity Gaige Talks About 'Schroder' | date=2013-02-06}}

The book was sold pre-publication for translation into fifteen languages, and was endorsed on the Dutch television show De Wereld Draait Door,{{cite web|url=http://deleesfabriek.nl/2013/03/schroder-amity-gaige/ |title=Schroder – Amity Gaige ‹ De Leesfabriek |publisher=Deleesfabriek.nl |date=2013-03-07 |access-date=2013-08-25}} sending the book into numerous reprintings. In the U.S., the book won endorsements from Jonathan Franzen and Jennifer Egan,{{cite web|url=http://amitygaige.com/schroder.html |title=Schroder |publisher=Amity Gaige |access-date=2013-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727071039/http://amitygaige.com/schroder.html |archive-date=2013-07-27 }} and was reviewed in nearly every major print outlet, making it one of the most heavily reviewed books of the year.{{cite news|last=Charles |first=Ron |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/amity-gaiges-schroder-reviewed-by-ron-charles/2013/02/05/f474c966-6900-11e2-af53-7b2b2a7510a8_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130211020137/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-02-05/entertainment/36762043_1_schroder-real-identity-amity-gaige |url-status=live |archive-date=2013-02-11 |title=Amity Gaige's 'Schroder,' reviewed by Ron Charles - Washington Post |publisher=Articles.washingtonpost.com |date=2013-02-05 |access-date=2013-08-25}}{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/books/schroder-a-novel-by-amity-gaige.html | work=The New York Times | first=Janet | last=Maslin | title='Schroder,' a Novel by Amity Gaige | date=2013-02-11}}{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/books/review/schroder-by-amity-gaige.html | work=The New York Times | first=Jonathan | last=Dee | title='Schroder,' by Amity Gaige | date=2013-03-01}}{{cite news|url=http://books.usatoday.com/book/%27schroder-reveals-a-complex-deceptive-life/r850411 |title=Schroder: A Novel by Amity Gaige: Book Review - USATODAY.com |publisher=Books.usatoday.com |date=2013-02-15 |access-date=2013-08-25 |first1=Carmela |last1=Ciuraru}}{{cite news|author=Natalie Bakopoulos |url=http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Schroder-by-Amity-Gaige-4321345.php |title='Schroder,' by Amity Gaige |publisher=SFGate |date=2013-03-01 |access-date=2013-08-25}}{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/schroder-a-novel-amity-gaige_n_2719718.html |title='Schroder A Novel' By Amity Gaige: The Book We're Talking About |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |date= 2013-02-19|access-date=2013-08-25 |first=Andrew |last=Losowsky}}{{cite web|last=Trussoni |first=Danielle |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20674399,00.html |title=Picks and Pans Main: Books |publisher=People.com |date= |access-date=2013-08-25}} According to WorldCat, the book is held in 3,873 libraries, with editions in 8 languages.[http://www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/lccn-n89126018 Gaige, Amity 1972-], WorldCat identities

Her fourth novel, Sea Wife, was published in 2020 (Knopf).{{cite web| url = https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/607358/sea-wife-by-amity-gaige/| title = Sea Wife by Amity Gaige: 9780525566922 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books}} The novel was selected as a Group Text pick by Elisabeth Egan of The New York Times, who wrote in her review, "Gaige tows you to tragedy with the graceful crawl of a poet and the motorboat intensity of a suspense author. And yet, when you find yourself at the deep end of this book, gasping for breath, you will still be shocked by what you find at the bottom."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/books/sea-wife-amity-gaige-group-text.html#:~:text=In%20Amity%20Gaige's%20stunning%20fourth,Thanks%20for%20reading%20The%20Times|title = This Book Will Take You to Beautiful Places with Palm Trees|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 30 April 2020|last1 = Egan|first1 = Elisabeth}} The maritime metaphors continued in a People Magazine review, which selected Sea Wife as Book of the Week, stating "Gaige's razor-sharp novel is wise to marital and broader politics. But it's also such gripping escapism that it feels like a lifeboat." In an interview with Susan Choi in The Millions,{{cite web | url=https://themillions.com/2020/05/a-process-not-without-casualty-amity-gaige-in-conversation-with-susan-choi.html | title=A Process Not Without Casualty: Amity Gaige in Conversation with Susan Choi | date=7 May 2020 }} Gaige talked about the research involved in writing a book set at sea, "It's possible that the tension the reader feels in reading Sea Wife runs parallel to the tension of the author trying to write it. Maybe I've bought into a kind of Stanislavskian theory of needing the stakes of my writing to be as high as those of my characters. The process was not without casualty."

Gaige's fifth novel, Heartwood (Simon & Schuster, 2025; {{isbn|978-1-6680-6360-6}}) was published by Simon & Schuster in April 2025. Heartwood was selected by Jenna Bush Hager of The Today Show as her "Read With Jenna" book club selection for April 2025.{{cite AV media|people=Jenna Bush Hager|title=Read with Jenna April Selection|url=https://www.today.com/video/read-with-jenna-heartwood-is-april-2025-book-club-pick-235400773693|date=26 March 2025|access-date=20 May 2025|work=Today}} Heartwood received positive reviews in The Washington Post,{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/03/25/heartwood-amity-gaige-review/|date=25 March 2025|work=The Washington Post|title=In 'Heartwood', a lost hiker fights for survival}} the Wall Street Journal,{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/heartwood-and-the-museum-detective-trails-into-darkness-96adbd11|work=The Wall Street Journal|title='Heartwood' and 'The Museum Detective': Trails Into Darkness

|first=Anna|last=Mundow|date=April 10, 2025}} and Boston.com.{{cite web|url=https://www.boston.com/culture/books/2025/04/28/amity-gaige-didnt-set-out-to-write-a-thriller-but-she-may-have-written-the-years-best/|title=Amity Gaige didn't set out to write a thriller — but she may have written the year's best|website=Boston.com|first=Lauren|last=Daly|date=25 April 2025|access-date=27 May 2025}}

• O My Darling (Other Press, 2005)
• The Folded World, (Other Press, Random House, 2007)
• Schroder (Twelve Books, 2013)
• Sea Wife, (Knopf, 2020) {{ISBN|978-0-525-65649-4}}{{Cite news |last=Corrigan |first=Maureen |date=2020-05-08 |title=Review {{!}} Abandoning suburbia for the open water, a family finds more than adventure in 'Sea Wife' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/abandoning-suburbia-for-the-open-water-a-family-finds-more-than-adventure-in-sea-wife/2020/05/07/bceec2de-8951-11ea-9dfd-990f9dcc71fc_story.html |access-date=2025-05-04 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}
• Heartwood, (Simon & Schuster, 2025) {{ISBN|978-1-6680-6360-6}}{{Cite news |last=Ruiz |first=Michelle |date=2025-03-30 |title=A Slow-Burn Thriller Set on the Appalachian Trail |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/books/review/heartwood-amity-gaige.html |access-date=2025-05-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Charles |first=Ron |date=2025-03-25 |title=Review {{!}} In 'Heartwood,' a lost hiker fights for survival |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/03/25/heartwood-amity-gaige-review/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}

{{incomplete list|date=February 2014}}

• 2014 Folio Prize shortlist for Schroder{{cite web |url=http://www.thefolioprize.com/2014/02/the-2014-folio-prize-shortlist-is-announced/ |title=The 2014 Folio Prize Shortlist is Announced |publisher=Folio Prize |author= |date=10 February 2014 |access-date=February 13, 2014}}{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10628622/Folio-Prize-2013-The-Americans-are-coming-but-not-the-ones-we-were-expecting.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211061816/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10628622/Folio-Prize-2013-The-Americans-are-coming-but-not-the-ones-we-were-expecting.html |archive-date=11 February 2014 |title=Folio Prize 2013: The Americans are coming, but not the ones we were expecting |work=The Daily Telegraph |author=Gaby Wood |date=10 February 2014 |access-date=February 13, 2014 |location=London}}

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Category:1972 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni

Category:American women novelists

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:Writers from Charlotte, North Carolina

Category:Writers from Reading, Pennsylvania

Category:Brown University alumni

Category:Novelists from Pennsylvania

Category:Novelists from North Carolina