Audrey Niffenegger

{{Short description|American writer, artist and academic (born 1963)}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Audrey Niffenegger

| image = AudreyNiffenegger.jpg

| imagesize = 200px

| caption = Niffenegger in 2009

| pseudonym =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1963|6|13}}

| birth_place = South Haven, Michigan, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Novelist
artist
academic

}}

| education = Art Institute of Chicago
Northwestern University (MFA)

| period = 2003–present

| spouse = Eddie Campbell

| genre = Fiction

| subject =

| movement =

| signature =

| awards = Inkpot Award (2019){{Cite web|url=https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot|title=Inkpot Award|date=December 6, 2012|website=Comic-Con International: San Diego|accessdate=April 9, 2023}}

| website = {{URL|audreyniffenegger.com}}

| module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Audrey Niffenegger BBC Radio4 Bookclub 7 July 2013 b036jf35.flac|title={{center|Audrey Niffenegger's voice}}|type=speech|description={{center|Recorded July 2013 from the BBC Radio 4 program Bookclub}}}}

}}

Audrey Niffenegger (born June 13, 1963) is an American writer, artist, and academic. Her debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, published in 2003, was a bestseller.

Biography

Audrey Niffenegger was born in 1963 in South Haven, Michigan. At the age of two,{{cite web|url=https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/things-are-going-very-well-for-audrey-niffenegger/|title=Things Are Going Very Well for Audrey Niffenegger|last=Bayne|first=Martha|date=September 25, 2003}} she and her family moved to Evanston, Illinois, and she has since spent the majority of her life living in or close to Chicago.{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/57965/audrey-niffenegger|title=Audrey Niffenegger {{!}} Penguin Random House|website=PenguinRandomhouse.com|access-date=2019-03-28}} Niffenegger started writing books when she was six years old. Niffenegger completed her undergraduate degree at the Art Institute of Chicago where she worked on becoming a visual artist. After completing her undergraduate degree, she got her M.F.A at Northwestern University. From 1994 to 2015, Niffenegger served on the faculty of the Creative Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago, where she co-founded the Columbia College Chicago Center for the Book and Paper Arts.

Niffenegger is also the founding member of T3 or Text 3, an artist and writer's group which performs and exhibits in Chicago. She is an alumna and board member of the Ragdale Foundation. She started making books herself by using processes such as intaglio and letterpress. She also wrote many novels which were produced on an offset press.{{Cite book|title=The Book as Art; Artists's Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts|last=Wassserman|first=Krystyna|publisher=Princeton Architectural Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-56898-992-1|location=New York|pages=12}}

She founded Artists Book House.{{Cite web |title=Our Mission |url=https://artistsbookhouse.org/our-mission |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=Artists Book House |language=en-US}} In 2024, Niffenegger announced that the center's home would be built in the Old Irving Park neighborhood.{{Cite web |date=2024-07-03 |title=Audrey Niffenegger Announces New Location and Plans for Artists Book House |url=https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2024/6/audrey-niffenegger-announces-new-location-and-plans-for-artists-book-house |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=Chicago Gallery News |language=en}}

=Novels=

Niffenegger's debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, was published in 2003 and was a bestseller.{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/1015357/audrey-niffenegger.html?tab=penguin-books|title=Ghostly|last=Niffenegger|first=Audrey|website=Penguin Books Ltd}} A film adaptation was released in 2009. Niffenegger has no intention of watching the movie because she stated that the characters are only truly hers in the book, not in the movie.{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|231220480}} |last1=Holt |first1=Emily |title=Ghost Writer |journal=WWD: Women's Wear Daily |location=Los Angeles |volume=198 |issue=78 |date=13 October 2009 |page=4 }} Niffenegger originally conceptualized The Time Traveler's Wife as a graphic novel but realized that the time travel would be difficult to capture in visualizations.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/03/29/how-a-best-selling-wife-and-husband-enchant-readers-in-the-anthology-bizarre-romance/|title=How a Best Selling Wife and Husband Enchant Readers in the Anthology Bizarre Romance|last=Cavna|first=Michael|date=March 29, 2018|newspaper=Washington Post}} In March 2009, Niffenegger sold her second novel, a literary ghost story called Her Fearful Symmetry, to Charles Scribner's Sons for an advance of $5 million.{{cite news |author=Rich |first=Motoko |author-link=Motoko Rich |date=March 11, 2009 |title=Audrey Niffenegger Receives $5 Million Advance for Second Novel |pages=C2 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/books/11niff.html |access-date=2013-07-09 |quote=Six years after the publication of her best-selling novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger sold a new manuscript for almost $5 million, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. It is an especially significant sum at a time of retrenchment and economic uncertainty in the publishing world. After a fiercely contested auction, Scribner, a unit of Simon & Schuster, bought the rights to publish the new novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, in the United States this fall.}} The book was released on October 1, 2009{{cite news|url=http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/books/article.html?Niffenegger_goes_on_a_timely_journey&in_article_id=745977&in_page_id=28|title=Niffenegger goes on a timely journey|last=Allfree|first=Claire|date=October 1, 2009|work=Metro|access-date=2009-10-03}} and is set in London's Highgate Cemetery where, during research for the book, Niffenegger acted as a tour guide.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/oct/03/audrey-niffenegger-highgate-cemetery-novel|title=Audrey Niffenegger on Highgate Cemetery|last=Niffenegger|first=Audrey|date=October 3, 2009|work=The Guardian|access-date=2009-10-03|location=London}} Though not as huge a commercial juggernaut as The Time Traveler's Wife, this book generally garnered more positive critical reviews and clinched Niffenegger's reputation as a leading novelist of ideas and atmosphere.{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/books/review/Cokal-t.html | title=Book Review | 'Her Fearful Symmetry,' by Audrey Niffenegger| journal=The New York Times| date=2009-09-25| last1=Cokal| first1=Susann}}

Niffenegger collaborated with Wayne McGregor on a balletic fable, Raven Girl (2013), performed at the Royal Opera House in London in 2013, 2015.{{cite web | url=http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/raven-girl-by-wayne-mcgregor | title=Raven Girl — Productions — Royal Opera House | access-date=October 7, 2015 | archive-date=September 5, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905140809/http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/raven-girl-by-wayne-mcgregor | url-status=dead }}

In 2009, she started working on a novel called The Chinchilla Girl in Exile.{{cite web

|url=http://audreyniffenegger.com/about

|title=Official Website FAQs

|author=Audrey Niffenegger

|access-date=29 March 2015

|quote=What are you writing now? I have started to work on a novel called The Chinchilla Girl in Exile. It is about a nine-year-old girl named Lizzie Varo who has hypertrichosis (she is covered with hair) and her desire to go to school (she's been home-schooled by her clever and amusing Aunt Mariella) and what happens when she does go to school (things get weird).

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507142122/http://audreyniffenegger.com/about

|archive-date=May 7, 2013

|df=mdy

}}

In 2013, it was announced that there would be a sequel to The Time Traveler's Wife{{cite web |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/0924/The-Time-Traveler-s-Wife-gets-a-sequel |title=The Time Traveler's Wife Gets a Sequel |author=Molly Driscoll |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=24 September 2013 |access-date=2013-09-24 |archive-date=28 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828110038/http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/0924/The-Time-Traveler-s-Wife-gets-a-sequel |url-status=live }} and in 2022 it was announced that title is The Other Husband set to be released in 2023.{{cite web | url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Audrey-Niffenegger/65456689 | title=Audrey Niffenegger }}{{cite web | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/05/20/author-stands-behind-hbos-controversial-adaptation-of-the-time-travelers-wife/?sh=2b3bd325381c | title=Author Stands Behind HBO's Controversial Adaptation of 'The Time Traveler's Wife' | website=Forbes }}

=Visual books=

Niffenegger has degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University.{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/44153-prose-to-graphic-novel-audrey-niffenegger-diana-gabaldon-make-the-leap.html|title=Prose to Graphic Novel: Audrey Niffenegger & Diana Gabaldon Make the Leap|website=PublishersWeekly.com|language=en|access-date=2019-03-08}} As an undergraduate student at the Art Institute of Chicago, Niffenegger created her own book arts major combining etching, letterpress arts and bookbinding.{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|745196706}} |last1=Watson |first1=Sasha |title=Prose to Graphic Novel: Audrey Niffenegger & Diane Gabaldon Make the Leap |journal=Publishers Weekly |volume=257 |issue=32 |date=9 August 2010 |page=27 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/44153-prose-to-graphic-novel-audrey-niffenegger-diana-gabaldon-make-the-leap.html }} Her first project was called The Adventuress, which she self-described as "a novel in pictures". Niffenegger's second novel in pictures was titled The Three Incestuous Sisters which she created while completing her M.F.A. at Northwestern. These two novels in pictures were subsequently published by Harry N. Abrams. The Three Incestuous Sisters was published in 2005 and tells the story of three unusual sisters who live in a seaside house; the book has been compared to the work of Edward Gorey. The Adventuress was released on September 1, 2006.

The 2004 short story "The Night Bookmobile" was serialized in 2008 in "Visual Novel" format in The Guardian.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/series/nightbookmobile|title=The Night Bookmobile | Books|date=July 21, 2008|access-date=2013-07-09|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London}} "The Night Bookmobile" was published on October 1, 2010, by Jonathan Cape. Niffenegger intends "The Night Bookmobile" to be the first installment in a series titled "The Library". She is working on the second installment, called "Moths of the New World", about a stolen book.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bookslut.com/features/2010_11_016791.php|title=Bookslut {{!}} An Interview with Audrey Niffenegger|website=www.bookslut.com|access-date=2019-03-08|archive-date=April 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413031708/http://www.bookslut.com/features/2010_11_016791.php|url-status=dead}}

Personal life

Niffenegger is married to cartoonist Eddie Campbell. Niffenegger and Campbell collaborated on the visual novel Bizarre Romance to celebrate the Comics Unmasked exhibit at the British Library.{{Cite web|url=https://www.audreyniffenegger.com/|title=Bizarre Romance|website=Mr. Death's Ephemeral Pageant|access-date=March 28, 2019}} Niffenegger describes herself as "somewhere in the spectrum of agnosticism and atheism" and ascribes her disbelief to her Catholic background.{{cite news|last=Soriano|first=César G.|title=Niffenegger finds 'Symmetry' in death for second novel|newspaper=USA Today|date=October 5, 2009|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2009-09-30-niffenegger-symmetry_N.htm|access-date=2009-10-07}}

Bibliography

=Novels=

The Time Traveler's Wife (2003)
Her Fearful Symmetry (2009)
Raven Girl (2013)
The Other Husband (to be published in 2023){{cite tweet|user=AANiffenegger|number=1532052957922992129|title=In the sequel, The Other Husband, there are a few additional visits/conversations. (It will be published next year.)}}

=Short stories=

"Jakob Wywialowski and the Angels" (2004)
"Prudence: The Cautionary Tale of a Picky Eater" in the book Poisonous Plants at Table (2006)

=Comics=

The Night Bookmobile (2008){{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/may/31/nightbookmobile|title=31.05.2008: The Night Bookmobile|last=Niffenegger|first=Audrey|date=August 4, 2008|work=The Guardian|location=London}}
Bizarre Romance (with Eddie Campbell, Abrams, 2018){{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/29/weekend-comics-special-audrey-niffenegger-eddie-campbell|title=Novelists do comics: Audrey Niffenegger and Eddie Campbell|last=Niffenegger|first=Audrey|date=2014-04-29|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-03-08|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}

=Artist's books=

Visual books:

The Adventuress (1985)
The Spinster (1986)
Aberrant Abecedarium (1986)
The Murderer{{Cite web|url=https://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm/author_number/928/audrey-niffenegger|title=Audrey Niffenegger author biography|website=BookBrowse.com|accessdate=April 9, 2023}}
Spring (1994)
The Three Incestuous Sisters (2005)

=Non-fiction=

Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger (2013), with Susan Fisher Sterling and Mark Pascale

=Anthologies=

Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories (Scribner, 2015). {{ISBN|9781501111198}}. An anthology selected and illustrated by Audrey Niffenegger. She also wrote the introduction.

= Books Foreworded by Niffenegger =

The Art of Neil Gaiman (with Hayley Campbell, Neil Gaiman)
Classic Penguin: Cover to Cover ( Paul Buckley)
Mr. Wrong: Real-Life Stories about the Men We Used to Love (Jacquelyn Mitchard, Harriet Brown, et al.)

Adaptations

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009), film directed by Robert Schwentke, based on novel The Time Traveler's Wife
The Time Traveler's Wife (2022), series directed by David Nutter, based on novel The Time Traveler's Wife

References

External links

{{official website}}
[http://raccontifantascienzaedintorni.blogspot.com/2008/12/science-fiction-can-do-anything.html Interview with Audrey Niffenegger, December 2008]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060210114654/http://www.printworkschicago.com/artists/niffen/niffen.htm Printworks Gallery], Art gallery representing Audrey Niffenegger
{{IMDb name|1875979}}
[http://writerunboxed.com/2006/03/10/interview-audrey-niffenegger/ Interview with Writer Unboxed 3/06] about craft, the process of writing and editing, Time Traveler's Wife, The Three Incestuous Sisters, Her Fearful Symmetry, more.
[http://ccragg123.libsyn.com/audrey-niffenegger-talks-about-her-new-novel-her-fearful-symmetry Feature-length radio interview] on KGNU with Claudia Cragg discussing 'Her Fearful Symmetry'
[https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/349 Audrey Niffenegger Papers] at Newberry Library
[https://soundcloud.com/gg-gives-good-mic/audrey-niffenegger Audrey Niffenegger on Meet The Writers], Monocle 24 talking to Georgina Godwin
Two-part interview conducted by Henk de Berg (2019) on Niffenegger's career, "The Time Traveler's Wife" and its sequel, "The Other Husband": [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OBYnvN8K40 part 1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bPwEQKXOGs part 2]