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Rachel Kushner

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Rachel Kushner
Kushner in 2015
Kushner in 2015
Born (1968-10-07) October 7, 1968 (age 56)
Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
OccupationNovelist, essayist
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley (BA)
Columbia University (MFA)
Period1996–present
GenreLiterary fiction, essays
SubjectContemporary art
Notable works
SpouseJason Smith
Children1
Website
rachelkushner.com

Rachel Kushner (born October 7, 1968) is an American writer, known for her novels Telex from Cuba (2008), The Flamethrowers (2013), The Mars Room (2018), and Creation Lake (2024).

Early life

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Kushner was born in Eugene, Oregon, the daughter of two scientists she has called "deeply unconventional people from the beatnik generation."[1][2][3] Her mother is part of a family of St. Louis Unitarians from Cuba while her father is of Jewish ancestry.[1] Her mother arranged after-school work for her straightening and alphabetizing books at a feminist bookstore when she was five years old, and Kushner says "it was instilled in me that I was going to be a writer of some kind from a young age."[2][4] Kushner moved with her family to San Francisco in 1979.[5]

When she was 16, she began her bachelor's degree in political economy at the University of California, Berkeley, with an emphasis on United States foreign policy in Latin America.[4][6] Kushner lived as an exchange student in Italy when she was 18; upon completing her Bachelor of Arts, she lived in San Francisco, working at nightclubs.[4] At 26, she enrolled in the fiction program at Columbia University and earned a MFA degree in creative writing in 2000.[7] One of her influences is the American novelist Don DeLillo.[8]

Career

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Novels

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Kushner's first novel, Telex from Cuba, was published by Scribner in July 2008. She got the idea for her novel after completing her MFA in 2000, and she made three long trips to Cuba over the six years it took her to write the book.[4][9] Telex from Cuba was the cover review of the July 6, 2008 issue of The New York Times Book Review, where it was described as a "multi-layered and absorbing" novel whose "sharp observations about human nature and colonialist bias provide a deep understanding of the revolution's causes." Telex from Cuba was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award.[10][11] Kushner's editor is Nan Graham.[12]

Kushner's second novel, The Flamethrowers, was published by Scribner in April 2013. Vanity Fair hailed it for its "blazing prose," which "ignites the 70s New York art scene and Italian underground."[citation needed] In The New Yorker, critic James Wood praised the book as "scintillatingly alive. It ripples with stories, anecdotes, set-piece monologues, crafty egotistical tall tales, and hapless adventures: Kushner is never not telling a story... It succeeds because it is so full of vibrantly different stories and histories, all of them particular, all of them brilliantly alive."[13] The Flamethrowers was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award,[14] and it was named a top book of 2013 by[15] New York, Time, The New Yorker, O, The Oprah Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, Salon.com, Slate, The Daily Beast, Flavorwire, The Millions, The Jewish Daily Forward, and Austin American-Statesman.

Kushner's third novel, The Mars Room, was published by Scribner in May 2018.[16] In September 2018 it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.[17]

Her 2024 novel Creation Lake was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and then shortlisted by September 2024.[18][19] It was also longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.[20]

Journalism

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After completing her MFA, Kushner lived in New York City for eight years, where she was an editor at Grand Street and BOMB. She has written widely on contemporary art, including numerous features in Artforum.[21]

In 2016, Kushner visited Israel, as part of a project by the "Breaking the Silence" organization, to write an article for a book on the Israeli occupation, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War.[22][23] Edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, the book was published as Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation in June 2017.[24] During the Gaza War, she announced that she supports a boycott of Israeli cultural institutions, including publishers and literary festivals. She was an original signatory of the manifesto "Refusing Complicity in Israel's Literary Institutions".[25][26]

Personal life

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Kushner lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Jason Smith and their son Remy.[27]

Awards and honors

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Literary prizes

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Year Work Award Category Result Ref
2008 Telex from Cuba National Book Award Fiction Shortlisted [10]
2013 The Flamethrowers James Tait Black Memorial Prize Fiction Shortlisted [28]
National Book Award Fiction Shortlisted [14]
2014 Folio Prize — Shortlisted [29][30]
Women's Prize for Fiction — Longlisted [31]
2015 International Dublin Literary Award — Longlisted
2018 The Mars Room Man Booker Prize — Shortlisted
Goodreads Choice Awards Fiction Nominated–20th [32]
National Book Critics Circle Fiction Finalist [33]
Prix Médicis Étranger Won
2019 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Fiction Longlisted [34]
Commonwealth Club of California Book Awards Fiction Gold Medal
2024 Creation Lake Booker Prize — Shortlisted [35]
National Book Award Fiction Longlisted [36]

Honors

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Bibliography

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Russo, Maria (May 6, 2013). "Knowingly Navigating the Unknown". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  2. ^ a b de Rosee, Sophie (January 24, 2014). "Author Rachel Kushner talks to Sophie de Rosee about childhood, marriage and Don DeLillo". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  3. ^ Miller, M.H. (March 14, 2013). "Revolution Blues: Rachel Kushner's New Novel Examines Rebellion, Both Real and Staged". observer.com. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d Kunzru, Hari (April 1, 2013). "BOMB—Artists in Conversation: Rachel Kushner". bombmagazine.org. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
  5. ^ "Telex from Cuba (Kushner) - Author Bio". litlovers.com. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  6. ^ "Rachel Kushner". ndbooks.com. October 2, 2014. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  7. ^ "Kushner, Rachel". id.loc.gov. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  8. ^ Ulin, David L. (April 12, 2013). "Rachel Kushner lights a fire in 'The Flamethrowers'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 21, 2013.
  9. ^ Timberg, Scott (July 5, 2008). "Breathing literary life into '50s Cuba". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  10. ^ a b "National Book Awards - 2008". National Book Foundation. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  11. ^ Cokal, Susan (July 6, 2008). "Livin' La Vida Local". The New York Times.
  12. ^ "Board of Directors". centerforfiction.org. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  13. ^ Wood, James (March 31, 2013). "Youth in Revolt". The New Yorker.
  14. ^ a b National Book Awards - 2013. National Book Foundation. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  15. ^ "Rachel Kushner/News". rachelkushner.com.
  16. ^ Kushner, Rachel (May 1, 2018). The Mars Room. Scribner. ISBN 9781476756554.
  17. ^ Anderson, Porter (September 20, 2018). "The Man Booker Prize for Fiction Names Its 2018 Shortlist". publishingperspectives. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  18. ^ Creamer, Ella (July 30, 2024). "Three British novelists make Booker 2024 longlist among 'cohort of global voices'". The Guardian. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  19. ^ Creamer, Ella (September 16, 2024). "Percival Everett and Rachel Kushner make the 2024 Booker prize shortlist". The Guardian.
  20. ^ "The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist". The New Yorker. September 12, 2024. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  21. ^ "Rachel Kushner". Simon & Schuster.
  22. ^ Zeveloff, Naomi; The Forward (April 18, 2016). "Renowned Authors Learn About Occupation Firsthand in Breaking the Silence Tour". Haaretz.
  23. ^ Cain, Sian (February 17, 2016). "Leading authors to write about visiting Israel and the occupied territories". The Guardian.
  24. ^ "Kingdom of Olives and Ash Writers Confront the Occupation By Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman". HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  25. ^ "Refusing Complicity in Israel's Literary Institutions". Retrieved October 29, 2024.
  26. ^ Creamer, Ella (October 28, 2024). "Sally Rooney, Rachel Kushner and Arundhati Roy call for boycott of Israeli cultural institutions". The Guardian.
  27. ^ Preston, Alex (May 26, 2018). "Rachel Kushner: 'Having children complements the making of art'". The Guardian.
  28. ^ "Crace and Lee win James Tait Black". The Bookseller. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  29. ^ "The 2014 Folio Prize Shortlist is Announced". Folio Prize. February 10, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  30. ^ Wood, Gaby (February 10, 2014). "Folio Prize 2013: The Americans are coming, but not the ones we were expecting". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on February 11, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  31. ^ Cain, Sian (March 7, 2014). "Baileys prize for women's fiction – in pictures". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  32. ^ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Fiction!". Goodreads. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  33. ^ "2018". National Book Critics Circle. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  34. ^ "2019 Winners | Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence". www.ala.org. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  35. ^ "Booker Prize 2024". The Booker Prizes.
  36. ^ Andrews, Meredith (September 13, 2024). "2024 National Book Awards Longlist for Fiction". National Book Foundation. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  37. ^ "Guggenheim Fellow Rachel Kushner".
  38. ^ Gignac, Erin (June 17, 2013). "Kalamazoo College graduation: 345 seniors urged to never stop reading, learning and working (with photo gallery)". mlive.
  39. ^ McNary, Dave (March 31, 2015). "Rachel Kushner Set as Telluride Film Fest Guest Director". Variety.
  40. ^ Short stories unless otherwise noted.
  41. ^ Kushner, Rachel (April 6, 2021). The Hard Crowd. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-5769-2.
  42. ^ "Seeing in the Half-Light". Los Angeles Review of Books. September 19, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  43. ^ Garner, Dwight (September 2, 2024). "Book Review: 'Creation Lake,' by Rachel Kushner". The New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
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