Monica West

Last updated
Monica West
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Duke University, New York University, University of Iowa
GenreFiction
Website
monicawestwrites.com

Monica West is an American writer. She is the author of the novel Revival Season, a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick [1] and a finalist for the 2022 Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award. [2]

Contents

Education

West attended Duke University and New York University. She graduated with an M.F.A in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. [3] [4]

Literary career

West's debut full-length novel, Revival Season, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2021. It follows a Baptist family as it preaches across the American South. [5] The book was inspired by the novels of Toni Morrison, James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain , Brit Bennett’s The Mothers and Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible , [6] as well as racism in American churches. [7]

Publishers Weekly called Revival Season "explosive" and "essential reading", [8] and The Washington Post , which called it "spellbinding" and West "an author to watch." [9] The New York Times Book Review noted that "West creates a vivid, intimate world on the page, dramatizing the compromises evangelical women must make." [10] For Washington Independent Review of Books , it is "a novel so profoundly well written that it fills a hole readers didn’t even know existed in the canon." [11] Kirkus Reviews wrote: "West gives us a glimpse of an insular world, but it’s not much more than a glimpse." [12] Ploughshares compared the novel to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus. [13] Booklist wrote:

"West’s debut is a bold insight into traditional southern Christianity and its contradictions to contemporary perspectives on gender equality. She writes with a melodic cadence that is honest and often heartbreaking. Her characters are three-dimensional people who tug at readers’ emotions." [14]

Bibliography

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References

  1. ↑ "Six Questions for Monica West, Author of Revival Season — Our June Discover Pick". B & N Reads. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  2. ↑ @FirstNovelVCU, VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. "ANNOUNCING OUR SHORT LIST!!". Twitter. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  3. ↑ Amit, Swetha. "A Conversation with Monica West". Black Moon Magazine. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Monica West". Duke University. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  5. ↑ "12 New Books We Recommend This Week". The New York Times Book Review. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  6. ↑ Gliddon, Jessica. "A Debut Novel Tackling Feminism, Religion and Healing in the South". Better. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  7. ↑ West, Monica. "When Will the Church Have Its Racial Reckoning?". Literary Hub. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Revival Season". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  9. ↑ Jackson, Naomi. "The spellbinding 'Revival' makes Monica West an author to watch". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  10. ↑ Cain, Hamilton. "An Invigorating Novel About Faith, Family and Falling From Grace". The New York Times Book Review. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  11. ↑ Mowbray, Beth. "A Bible Belt family grapples with faith and fealty in this stunning debut". The Washington Independent Review of Books. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Revival Season". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  13. ↑ Wallace, Cynthia R. "The Entanglement of Church and Family in Revival Season". Ploughshares. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  14. ↑ Hawkins, Laparis. "Revival Season". Booklist. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
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