Jeanine Cummins

Last updated

Jeanine Cummins
Jeanine cummings 5212959.jpg
Cummins in 2022
Born (1974-12-06) December 6, 1974 (age 49)
Rota, Andalusia, Spain
NationalityAmerican
OccupationNovelist
Website jeaninecummins.com

Jeanine Cummins (born December 6, 1974) [1] [ failed verification ] is an American author of Irish and Puerto Rican heritage. [2] [3] She has written four books: a memoir titled A Rip in Heaven and three novels, The Outside Boy,The Crooked Branch, and American Dirt. [4] American Dirt was a notable success, selling over 3 million copies in 37 languages. However, it also gained controversy within the American literary community for its perceived cultural exploitation.

Contents

Early life

Cummins was born in Rota, Spain, where her father, Gene, was stationed as a member of the US Navy. [5] Her mother, Kay, was a nurse. [6] Cummins spent her childhood in Gaithersburg, Maryland and attended Towson University, where she majored in English and communications. In 1993 Cummins was a finalist in the Rose of Tralee festival, an international event that is celebrated among Irish communities all over the world; at each festival in Tralee, Ireland, a woman is crowned the Rose. [7]

Career

After university, Cummins spent two years working as a bartender in Belfast, Northern Ireland, before moving back to the United States in 1997 and beginning work at Penguin in New York City. [3] She worked in the publishing industry for 10 years. [8]

Her 2004 memoir, A Rip in Heaven, focuses on the attempted murder of her brother, Tom, and the murder of two of her cousins on the Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1991, when Cummins was 16. [1] She declined offers for film rights to the book. [9] She has said that her cousin Julie's death specifically inspired her to become a writer, as Julie had been "a really gifted writer" and Cummins's role model growing up, and Cummins felt a sense of responsibility to carry on her legacy. [9]

Her next two books were novels that explore Irish history. The Outside Boy (2010) is about Pavee travellers. The Crooked Branch (2013) is about the Great Famine of Ireland. [9] These books were published for the first time in Ireland in 2020. [7]

Cummins' 2020 novel, American Dirt, tells the story of a mother and bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who attempts to escape to the United States with her son after her husband and her entire family is killed by a drug cartel. [10] [11] In 2018 the book was sold to Flatiron after a three-day bidding war between nine publishers that resulted in a seven-figure deal. [12] [3] From 2018 until its publication in January 2020, the book was heavily marketed, receiving many positive reviews and a coveted book release day endorsement by Oprah Winfrey as the 83rd book chosen for Oprah's Book Club. [13] [3] The novel eventually sold over 3 million copies, in 37 languages. [14]

Approximately one month prior to release of the book, a negative review from Latina author Myriam Gurba was published online. [15] [16] Then, a week before release of the book, a string of critical reviews was published, including a review in The New York Times. [17] [18] [15] In these reviews and a letter signed by 142 writers, Cummins was accused of exploitation and inaccuracy in her portrayals of both Mexicans and the migrant experience. [19] Some also claimed that Cummins had previously identified as white but re-branded herself as Latina with the publication of the book, pointing to a line in a 2015 New York Times op-ed in which Cummins stated "I am white." [16] Most did not refer to the entire statement in the op-ed, however, which was about the murder of Cummins's cousins by a group of three black and one white men and included the line "I am white. The grandmother I shared with Julie and Robin was Puerto Rican, and their father is half Lebanese. But in every practical way, my family is mostly white." [1] The controversy around Jeanine's book was used to launch the organization and hashtag #DignidadLiteraria to highlight and address a perceived lack of diversity in the U.S. publishing industry. [20]

On January 30, 2020, Cummins' book tour was cancelled. Flatiron Books' President Bob Miller wrote, "Based on specific threats to booksellers and the author, we believe there exists real peril to their safety." [21] The publisher later clarified that these were not death threats, but rather other threats made against Cummins, against booksellers hosting her, and against moderators participating in the events. [22]

Cummins has indicated that her next book might be set in Puerto Rico. [7]

Family

Cummins' husband is an Irish immigrant who lived illegally in the U.S. for 10 years. [23] The couple have two daughters, and have also been foster parents. [24] [25]

Works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ursula K. Le Guin</span> American fantasy and science fiction author (1929–2018)

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the Earthsea fantasy series. Her work was first published in 1959, and her literary career spanned nearly sixty years, producing more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories, in addition to poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books. Frequently described as an author of science fiction, Le Guin has also been called a "major voice in American Letters". Le Guin said she would prefer to be known as an "American novelist".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toni Morrison</span> American novelist and editor (1931–2019)

Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved (1987); she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose of Tralee (festival)</span> International celebration, involving young Women who are representing Irish communities

The Rose of Tralee International Festival is an event which is celebrated among Irish communities all over the world. The festival, held annually in the town of Tralee in County Kerry, takes its inspiration from a 19th-century ballad of the same name about a woman called Mary, who because of her beauty was called "The Rose of Tralee". The words of the song are credited to C. Mordaunt Spencer and the music to Charles William Glover, but a story circulated in connection with the festival claims that the song was written by William Pembroke Mulchinock, a wealthy Protestant, out of love for Mary O'Connor, a poor Catholic maid in service to his parents.

<i>Love in the Time of Cholera</i> Novel by Gabriel García Márquez

Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel written in Spanish by Colombian Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez and published in 1985. Edith Grossman's English translation was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeanine Pirro</span> American television host and author (born 1951)

Jeanine Ferris Pirro is an American television host and author, and is also a former judge, prosecutor, and politician in the state of New York.

Tawni O'Dell is an American novelist. Her first published novel, Back Roads, was selected by Oprah Winfrey for Oprah's Book Club in March 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tayari Jones</span> American writer (born 1970)

Tayari Jones is an American author and academic known for An American Marriage, which was a 2018 Oprah's Book Club Selection, and won the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction. Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, the University of Iowa, and Arizona State University. She is currently a member of the English faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences at Emory University, and recently returned to her hometown of Atlanta after a decade in New York City. Jones was Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-large at Cornell University before becoming Charles Howard Candler Professor of Creative Writing at Emory University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Hanff Korelitz</span> American novelist (born 1961)

Jean Hanff Korelitz is an American novelist, playwright, theater producer and essayist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oprah's Book Club 2.0</span> Award

Oprah's Book Club 2.0 is a book club founded June 1, 2012, by Oprah Winfrey in a joint project between OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and O: The Oprah Magazine. The club is a re-launch of the original Oprah's Book Club, which ran for 15 years and ended in 2011, but as the "2.0" name suggests, digital media is the new focus. It incorporates the use of various social media platforms and e-readers that allow for the quoting and uploading of passages and notes for discussion, among other features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy C. Ortiz</span> American poet

Wendy C. Ortiz is an American essayist, creative nonfiction writer, fiction writer, psychotherapist, and poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leigh Bardugo</span> Israeli–American fantasy author (born 1975)

Leigh Bardugo is an American fantasy author. She is best known for her young adult Grishaverse novels, which include the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows and King of Scars duologies. She also received acclaim for her paranormal fantasy adult debut, Ninth House. The Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows series have been adapted into Shadow and Bone by Netflix, and Ninth House will be adapted by Amazon Studios; Bardugo is an executive producer on both works.

Kate Elizabeth Russell is an American author. Her debut novel, My Dark Vanessa, was published in 2020 and became a national bestseller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myriam Gurba</span> American novelist

Myriam Gurba Serrano is an American author, editor, and visual artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grady Hendrix</span> American author and journalist

Grady Hendrix is an American author, journalist, public speaker, and screenwriter known for his best-selling 2014 novel Horrorstör. Hendrix lives in Manhattan and was one of the founders of the New York Asian Film Festival.

<i>DignidadLiteraria</i> Hashtag and grassroots campaign

#DignidadLiteraria is a Spanish-language hashtag, used chiefly on Twitter, and a grassroots campaign for greater Latino inclusion in the U.S. publishing industry.

Melissa Albert is an American author of young adult fiction.

<i>American Dirt</i> Novel by Jeanine Cummins

American Dirt is a 2020 novel by American author Jeanine Cummins, published by Flatiron Books. The book is about a Mexican bookseller who is forced to flee as an illegal immigrant to the United States, along with her son, after her journalist husband exposes a local drug kingpin. American Dirt was a New York Times best seller, selling over 3 million copies worldwide in 37 languages. It was selected for the TV series Oprah's Book Club hosted by Oprah Winfrey, and was on the longlist for the 2020 Prix Médicis étranger. However, the book also gained significant criticism, especially from Mexican-American authors, for its alleged cultural exploitation.

Jennifer Stanley is an American mystery fiction novelist. She also writes under the name Ellery Adams.

Simone St. James is a Canadian author of mystery, historical fiction, and romance novels. Simone lives outside of Toronto, Canada and had twenty years of experience in the television business before leaving to write full-time.

Ayşegül Savaş is a Turkish writer who publishes mainly in American literary media.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cummins, Jeanine (December 31, 2015). "Opinion | Murder Isn't Black or White". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  2. ↑ Conroy, Catherine (January 25, 2020). "I Didn't Know If I Had the Right to Tell The Story". The Irish Times. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Alter, Alexandra (January 13, 2020). "Writing About the Border Crisis, Hoping to Break Down Walls". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Jeanine Cummins's New Novel Is A Harrowing Immigrant's Tale". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  5. ↑ Armus, Teo (January 23, 2020). "'American Dirt' is a novel about Mexicans by a writer who isn't. For some, that's a problem". The Washington Post . Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Shelf Awareness for Readers for Tuesday, January 21, 2020". www.shelf-awareness.com. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 Lee, Jenny (January 29, 2020). "American Dirt author Jeanine Cummins on migration, the backlash against her book, and bad poetry in a Belfast bar". The Irish News. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  8. ↑ Eds, The (March 18, 2013). "Baltimore Fishbowl | The Ivy Bookshop Brings Jeanine Cummins, author of "The Crooked Branch" -". Baltimore Fishbowl. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 McCauley, Mary Carole (March 18, 2013). "Gaithersburg author writes 'The Crooked Branch' about the Irish potato famine". The Baltimore Sun . Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  10. ↑ Cummins, Jeanine (June 19, 2018). "Opinion | 'If It Could Happen to Them, Why Can't It Happen to Us?'". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  11. ↑ Beckerman, Hannah (January 6, 2020). "American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins review – panic and pathos on the run from the cartel". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Book Deals: Week of May 28, 2018". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  13. ↑ Haber, Leigh (January 21, 2020). "Oprah Announces New Oprah's Book Club Pick: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins". Oprah Magazine. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  14. ↑ Paul, Pamela (January 26, 2023). "The Long Shadow of 'American Dirt'". The New York Times.
  15. 1 2 Hampton, Rachelle (January 21, 2020). "Why Everyone's Angry About American Dirt". Slate Magazine. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  16. 1 2 "Pendeja, You Ain't Steinbeck: My Bronca with Fake-Ass Social Justice Literature". Tropics of Meta. December 12, 2019. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Latinx Critics Speak Out Against 'American Dirt'; Jeanine Cummins Responds". NPR.org. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  18. ↑ "'American Dirt' falls in the mud". Fortune. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Dear Oprah Winfrey: 142 Writers Ask You to Reconsider American Dirt". lithub.com. January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  20. ↑ "#DignidadLiteraria calls meeting with 'American Dirt' publisher 'a victory'". NBC News. February 3, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  21. ↑ Asmelash, Leah (January 30, 2020). "The author tour for the controversial book 'American Dirt' has been canceled over safety concerns". CNN. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  22. ↑ Claire Kirch. "Oprah, Macmillan Promise 'To Do Better' to Amplify Latinx Voices". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  23. ↑ Mancusi, Nicholas (January 16, 2020). "Review: Jeanine Cummins' 'American Dirt' Is a Harrowing Tale of Immigration, Family and Memory". Time. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  24. ↑ "American Dirt author Jeanine Cummins - border crisis". RNZ. January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  25. ↑ Presented by Lea, Richard; Claire Armitstead; Sian Cain (January 22, 2020). "Jeanine Cummins on her explosive new novel, American Dirt". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved January 26, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.