Amity Gaige

Amity Gaige
Amity Gaige and Adam Haslett in Conversation at Greenlight Bookstore - February 28, 2013
Born	1972 Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Alma mater	Brown University; Iowa Writers' Workshop
Genre	Novel

Amity Gaige (born 1972) is an American novelist, known for her books O My Darling, The Folded World and Schroder.

Early life

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 attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop (1997-1999).

Career

Her first novel, O My Darling (Other Press, 2005)^[1] won her a place in the inaugural year of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Awards.^[2]

Her second novel, The Folded World, was published in 2007 (Other Press, Random House),^[3] and garnered independent publishing awards that year.^[4][5]

Her third novel, Schroder (Twelve Books, 2013)^[6] 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.^[7][8] The Los Angeles Times wrote, “Schroder’s closest literary relative is probably Lolita (minus the pedophilia),”^[9] 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.^[10] Gaige also cited Pale Fire as an influence in an interview with The New York Times' John Williams.^[11] The book was sold pre-publication for translation into fifteen languages, and was endorsed on the Dutch television show De Wereld Draait Door,^[12] sending the book into numerous reprintings. In the U.S., the book won endorsements from Jonathan Franzen and Jennifer Egan,^[13] and was reviewed in nearly every major print outlet, making it one of the most heavily reviewed books of the year.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]} According to WorldCat, the book is held in 3,873 libraries, with editions in 8 languages.^[21]

Gaige is the Visiting Writer at Amherst College.

Awards and honors

• 2014 Folio Prize shortlist for Schroder^[22][23]

References