Jessica Anthony

Last updated
Jessica Anthony
Jessica Anthony.jpg
OccupationAuthor
NationalityAmerican
Education Hamilton Central School
Bates College
University of Manchester (BA)
University of Manchester (MFA)
Genre Satire
Notable works Enter the Aardvark
Website
thejessicaanthony.com [1]

Jessica Anthony is an American novelist, and author of The Convalescent (2009), Chopsticks (2012), and Enter the Aardvark (2020). In addition to writing, Anthony has held a series of diverse occupations across the globe ranging from butcher in Sitka, Alaska, unlicensed masseuse in Rytro, Poland, and secretary in San Francisco, California. In 2017, Anthony worked on Enter the Aardvark while stationed as a "Bridge Guard" during an art residency program, guarding the Mária Valéria Bridge between Štúrovo, Slovakia and Esztergom, Hungary. She resides in Maine and teaches at Bates College. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Anthony was born in Oneida, New York. She attended Hamilton Central School, where her mother taught Latin. She attended Bates College [3] and the University of Manchester (UK), earning a B.A. in English literature. While at Manchester, she studied literature with Professor Michael Schmidt OBE FRSL. In 2004, she received an MFA in fiction from George Mason University, where she studied with novelists Susan Shreve, Alan Cheuse, Richard Bausch, and Stephen Goodwin.

Anthony had several jobs before becoming a novelist. She worked at Sea Mart in Sitka, Alaska, where she was a butcher and rented videos. She taught English in the remote villages Rytro and Rygrot, Poland, and to Czech businessmen in Prague. She worked as a custodian, cleaning college dorms in upstate New York, and was a secretary in San Francisco and New York City.

Career

Anthony’s debut novel, The Convalescent, tells the story of Rovar Pliegman, a Hungarian-American who sells meat out of a bus. The novel is a farcical re-telling of the history of the Hungarian people and satirizes contemporary American suburbia. [4] The novel was published by McSweeneys in 2009 and won McSweeneys inaugural Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award. [5]

Her second novel, Chopsticks, coauthored with graphic designer Rodrigo Corral, was published by Penguin/Razorbill in 2012. Chopsticks is “a multimedia narrative about a piano prodigy told through words, pictures and memorabilia,” [6] published as both a traditional book and an app, was featured in The Wall Street Journal [7] and won Apps Magazine’s (UK) “App of the Year.”

Enter the Aardvark , published in March 2020, sold in a six-house auction to Little, Brown & Co. The novel follows a closeted Republican congressman and a Victorian taxidermied aardvark that ends up in his possession, [8] [9] and was called “an ingenious political satire” by The Guardian. [10] The novel was a finalist for the New England Book Award in Fiction, [11] a New York Times Editors’ Choice, [12] and was featured in Time Magazine. [13]

Anthony’s short stories have appeared in Best New American Voices, Best American Nonrequired Reading, McSweeney’s, New American Writing, among other places. [14]

Her next novel, THE MOST, is forthcoming from Little, Brown & Co. and Doubleday UK [15] in July 2024.

Bibliography

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

Amanda Craig is a British novelist, critic and journalist. She was a recipient of the Catherine Pakenham Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. C. Boyle</span> American novelist and short-story writer

Thomas Coraghessan Boyle is an American novelist and short story writer. Since the mid-1970s, he has published nineteen novels and more than 150 short stories. He won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988, for his third novel, World's End, which recounts 300 years in upstate New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Eggers</span> American writer, editor, and publisher

Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Eggers is also the founder of Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, a literary journal; a co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia, co-founder of The Hawkins Project, and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness; and the founder of ScholarMatch, a program that matches donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in several magazines, including The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheila Heti</span> Canadian writer

Sheila Heti is a Canadian writer.

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

Jacquelyn Mitchard is an American journalist and author. She is the author of the best-selling novel The Deep End of the Ocean, which was the first selection for Oprah's Book Club, on September 17, 1996. Other books by Mitchard include The Breakdown Lane, Twelve Times Blessed, Christmas, Present, A Theory of Relativity, The Most Wanted, Cage of Stars, No Time to Wave Goodbye, Second Nature - A Love Story, and Still Summer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Davis (writer)</span> American writer

Amanda Davis was an American writer and teacher who died in a plane accident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paule Marshall</span> American writer (1929–2019)

Paule Marshall was an American writer, best known for her 1959 debut novel Brown Girl, Brownstones. In 1992, at the age of 63, Marshall was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship grant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percival Everett</span> American writer (born 1956)

Percival Everett is an American writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. He has described himself as 'pathologically ironic' and has played around with numerous genres such as western fiction, mysteries, thrillers, satire and philosophical fiction. His books are often satirical, aimed at exploring race and identity issues in the United States.

<i>The Queen of Zamba</i> 1949 novel by Lyon Sprague de Camp

The Queen of Zamba is a science fiction novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, the first book of his Viagens Interplanetarias series and its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. It was written between November 1948 and January 1949 and first published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction as a two-part serial in the issues for August and September 1949. It was first published in book form as a paperback by Ace Books in 1954 as an "Ace Double" issued back-to-back with Clifford D. Simak's novel Ring Around the Sun. This version was editorially retitled Cosmic Manhunt and introduced a number of textual changes disapproved by the author. The novel was first issued by itself in another paperback edition under the title A Planet Called Krishna, published in England by Compact Books in 1966. A new paperback edition restoring the author's preferred title and text and including the Krishna short story "Perpetual Motion" was published by Dale Books in 1977. This edition was reprinted by Ace Books in 1982 as part of the standard edition of the Krishna novels. The novel has been translated into German, French, Italian, Czech, and Polish. An E-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form.

Jessica Amanda Salmonson is an American author and editor of fantasy and horror fiction and poetry. She lives on Puget Sound with her partner, artist and editor Rhonda Boothe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tara June Winch</span> Australian writer

Tara June Winch is an Australian writer. She is the 2020 winner of the Miles Franklin Award for her book The Yield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane K. Cleland</span> American author

Jane K. Cleland is a contemporary American author of mystery fiction. She is the author of the Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries, a traditional mystery series set in New Hampshire and featuring antiques appraiser Josie Prescott, as well as books and articles about the craft of writing. Cleland has been nominated for and has won numerous awards for her writing.

Lisa Genova is an American neuroscientist and author. She self-published her debut novel, Still Alice (2007), about a Harvard University professor who suffers early-onset Alzheimer's disease. The book gained popularity and was acquired by Simon & Schuster; it was published in January 2009 by Pocket Books. There are over 2.6 million copies in print, and it has been translated into 37 languages. It was chosen as one of the thirty titles for World Book Night 2013. The book was adapted into a 2014 film, which won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Julianne Moore's highly acclaimed performance as Alice Howland.

<i>Life After Life</i> (novel) Novel by Kate Atkinson

Life After Life is a 2013 novel by Kate Atkinson. It is the first of two novels about the Todd family. The second, A God in Ruins, was published in 2015. Life After Life garnered acclaim from critics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meg Elison</span> American author and feminist essayist

Meg Elison is an American author and feminist essayist whose writings often incorporate the themes of female empowerment, body positivity, and gender flexibility. Her debut novel, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, won the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award, and her second novel, The Book of Etta, was nominated for the award in 2017. Elison's work has appeared in several markets, including Fantasy & Science Fiction, Terraform, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Catapult, and Electric Literature.

Rachel Khong is an American writer and editor based in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rowan Hisayo Buchanan</span> British-American writer (born 1989)

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan FRSL is a British-American writer. Her novels include Harmless Like You, which received a Betty Trask Award and the 2017 Author's Club First Novel Award, and Starling Days. She is the editor of Go Home!, an anthology of stories by Asian American writers. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023.

Oyinkan Braithwaite is a Nigerian-British novelist and writer. She was born in Lagos and spent her childhood in both Nigeria and the UK.

<i>Enter the Aardvark</i> 2020 novel by Jessica Anthony

Enter the Aardvark is an American satirical novel by Jessica Anthony originally published in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Theresa Peet Russell</span> American author and professor

Frances Theresa Elizabeth Peet Russell was an American writer and professor. She wrote three books about English literature. Her book Satire in the Victorian Novel may have been the first work to analyze satire in Victorian literature.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.thejessicaanthony.com.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ "Jessica L. Anthony". Bates.edu. 31 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "Jessica Anthony". Bates College.
  4. ↑ Hammond, Dewey (9 August 2009). "'The Convalescent,' by Jessica Anthony". San Francisco Chronicle.
  5. ↑ "McSweeney's Issue 14". The McSweeney’s Store.
  6. ↑ "CHOPSTICKS". Kirkus Reviews.
  7. ↑ Alter, Alexandra (20 January 2012). "Blowing Up the Book". Wall Street Journal.
  8. ↑ Greenman, Ben (2 July 2020). "Can Political Satire Outpace Reality? 3 Books Toss Their Hats in the Ring". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ "In Jessica Anthony's New Novel, a Taxidermied Aardvark Leads to a Politician Getting Canceled". Creative Capital. 2020-03-05. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  10. ↑ Cook, Jude (April 23, 2020). "Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony review – achingly funny farce". the Guardian.
  11. ↑ "2020 Finalists". New England Book Awards.
  12. ↑ "9 New Books We Recommend This Week". The New York Times. 9 July 2020.
  13. ↑ "Political Satire 'Enter the Aardvark' Is Wonderfully Weird". Time. 18 March 2020.
  14. ↑ "Jessica Anthony". Penguin.co.uk. August 2024.
  15. ↑ url=https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/jessica-anthony
  16. ↑ "Fiction Book Review: The Convalescent by Jessica Anthony, Author . McSweeney's $22 (243p) ISBN 978-1-934781-10-4". PublishersWeekly.com.
  17. ↑ "Children's Book Review: Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral. Razorbill, $19.99 paper (272p) ISBN 978-1-59514-435-5". PublishersWeekly.com.
  18. ↑ "Review: 'Chopsticks' by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral novel beyond words". Tampa Bay Times.
  19. ↑ "Review: The aardvark stays in the picture". Los Angeles Times. 2020-03-25.
  20. ↑ Anthony, Jessica (6 November 2023). The Most. Little Brown. ISBN   978-0-316-57637-6.
  21. ↑ Westenfeld, Adrienne (1 December 2020). "The 47 Best Books of 2020 (So Far)". Esquire.
  22. ↑ "'Enter the Aardvark' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020". Time. 11 November 2020.
  23. ↑ "B&N Discover Great New Writers, Single People - Fiction, Love & Relationships - Fiction". Barnes & Noble.
  24. ↑ "The Convalescent | Awards & Grants". Ala.org.
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.