Allegra Goodman

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Allegra Goodman
Allegra Goodman 2025 Texas Book Festival.jpg
Goodman at the 2025 Texas Book Festival
Born (1967-07-05) 5 July 1967 (age 59)
New York City, U.S.
Education Harvard University (AB)
Stanford University (PhD)
OccupationNovelist
Spouse David Karger
Children4
Writing career
Period1989-current
GenreLiterary fiction
Website allegragoodman.com

Allegra Goodman (born 5 July 1967) is an American writer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Allegra Goodman was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Hawaii. [2] She was brought up as a Conservative Jew. [3] [4] Her mother, Madeleine Goodman, who died in 1996, was a professor of genetics and women's studies, then assistant vice president at the University of Hawaii at Manoa for many years, before moving on to Vanderbilt University in the 1990s. [5] [6] Her father, Lenn E. Goodman, [5] is a professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt and the author of a dozen books. [4] [6]

Goodman wrote and illustrated her first novel at the age of seven. [7]

Goodman graduated from Punahou School in 1985. She then went to Harvard University, where she earned a BA degree. She then went on to do graduate work at Stanford University, where she earned a Ph.D. degree in English literature in 1996. [6]

Writing

Goodman's younger sister, Paula Fraenkel, is an oncologist. Fraenkel's experience in research labs is one of the inspirations for Goodman's 2006 novel Intuition. [8]

Her short story "La Vita Nuova" was selected for The Best American Short Stories 2011 and was broadcast on Public Radio International's Selected Shorts in February 2012. [9]

Her novel Isola was named one of People's best books of February 2025. [10] It was included in New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2025 list [11] and Time magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2025 list. [12]

Personal life

Goodman met her husband, David Karger, at Harvard University. Both were regulars at Harvard Hillel, and prayed in Harvard Hillel Orthodox Minyan. [13] Goodman and Karger live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Karger is a professor in computer science at MIT. [14] They have four adult children, three boys and a girl. [3] They are traditionally Jewish in their observance. [4]

Awards and honors

YearNominated workAwardCategoryResultRef
1991— Whiting Award FictionWon [15]
1998 Kaaterskill Falls National Book Award Fiction Shortlisted [16]
2009 Intuition Wellcome Book Prize —Shortlisted [17]
2018"F.A.Q.s" Sunday Times Short Story Award —Shortlisted [18]

Published works

Novels

  • Kaaterskill Falls (The Dial Press 1998) ISBN   0-385-32389-1
  • Paradise Park (The Dial Press 2001) ISBN   0-385-33416-8
  • Intuition (The Dial Press 2006) ISBN   0-385-33612-8
  • The Other Side of the Island (Razorbill 2008) ISBN   978-1-59514-196-5
  • The Cookbook Collector (The Dial Press 2010) ISBN   978-0-385-34085-4
  • The Chalk Artist (The Dial Press 2017) ISBN   978-1-400-06987-3
  • Sam (The Dial Press 2023) ISBN   978-0-593-59682-1
  • Isola (The Dial Press 2025) ISBN   978-0-593-73008-9
  • This Is Not About Us (The Dial Press 2026) ISBN   978-0-593-44785-7 [19] [20] [21]

Short fiction

Collections
Stories [a]

———————

Notes
  1. ↑ Short stories unless otherwise noted.

References

  1. ↑ "Allegra Goodman". LibraryThing.
  2. ↑ Fried, Lewis (2007). "Allegra Goodman". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica . Vol. 7 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. p. 756. ISBN   978-0-02-866097-4.
  3. 1 2 "Acclaimed Novelist and Short-story Writer, Allegra Goodman, Delves into the World of Teachers and Gamers, the Focus of her Latest Book, 'The Chalk Artist'". Friends of the South End Library. Boston. May 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 Rimer, Sara (June 26, 1997). "A Writer Without Neuroses?". The New York Times. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  5. 1 2 "Dean Goodman remembered for leadership, spirit". Vanderbilt Register. October 7–13, 1996. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 26, 2005. Retrieved June 13, 2006.
  6. 1 2 3 "Allegra Goodman". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale. 2011.
  7. ↑ Donnelly, David. "Novel tale of island prodigy". Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
  8. ↑ Shafner, Rhonda (April 16, 2006). "'Intuition' rings true in world of science". The Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved 2026-05-10.
  9. ↑ "Broadcast Schedule | Selected Shorts". Symphony Space. Retrieved 2026-05-10.
  10. ↑ Tagen-Dye, Carly; Schumer, Lizz (March 2, 2025). "PEOPLE's Best Books of February 2025: New Fiction from Linda Holmes, Karen Thompson Walker and More". People.
  11. ↑ 100 Notable Books of 2025, November 25, 2025, ISSN   0362-4331 , retrieved May 26, 2026
  12. ↑ "'Isola' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2025". TIME. November 12, 2025. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  13. ↑ Teisch, Jessica (2010). "Allegra Goodman" (PDF). Bookmarks Magazine.
  14. ↑ "David R. Karger". MIT CSAIL Directory.
  15. ↑ "Allegra Goodman". Whiting Foundation. Retrieved 2026-05-10.
  16. ↑ "Kaaterskill Falls". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2026-05-10.
  17. ↑ "2009 Wellcome Book Prize Shortlist". Barnes & Noble.
  18. ↑ "2018 Shortlist". The Sunday Times Short Story Award. Retrieved 2026-05-10.
  19. ↑ Corrigan, Maureen (2026-02-25). "This novel about family drama is so good you may want to re-read it immediately". NPR. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  20. ↑ "Book Review: Losing the Flavor - Allegra Goodman and the New Jewish-American Family - The Arts Fuse". 2026-02-27. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  21. ↑ McHugh, Clare (2026-02-08). "Review | Allegra Goodman returns to her roots". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2026-10-14.
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