Nora Pierce

Nora Pierce is an American author and academic based in California. She has taught creative writing at Stanford University and is the author of The Insufficiency of Maps (2007).

Career

Pierce studied creative writing at Stanford University, and was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing. ^[1] She was then a lecturer and teacher of creative writing at Stanford. She has been a Rosenthal Fellow in the PEN Center Emerging Voices program.^{[ citation needed ]}

Pierce had several writer's residencies, including at Cité Internationale des Arts, in Paris, at Headlands Center for the Arts in 2004, and at The Vermont Studio Center. In 2003 she was part of the Community of Writers, annual writing conference. ^[2]

Her work appeared in Barcelona Review. ^[3]

Personal life

Pierce is of Native American and Lebanese descent. She is married and has one child. ^[1]

The Insufficiency of Maps

Pierce's debut novel, The Insufficiency of Maps was published April 1, 2007. ^[4] It is a coming-of-age tale that grapples with issues of contemporary Native American experience. It describes the progress (and gradual realisations) of Alice, the daughter of a schizophrenic and alcoholic mother, beginning with her early life in a trailer on a reservation, and transitioning into a chaotic existence between cultures, after she runs away from a foster care placement in a white suburban family.

Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander , stated that the novel explores "fundamental human experiences - love, dependence, marginality, madness". ^{[5] [ non-primary source needed ]}

The novel was called a "promising" and "forceful debut". ^{[4] [6]} In a mixed review, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune 's Susan Rife proffered a more mixed review. Rife criticized the novel's metaphors and noted that the novel was slow to start, though concluded it is "filled with graceful images and a heart-rending story." ^[7]

The Insufficiency of Maps was a finalist for the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Book of the Year award in 2008. ^[8]

References

1. "Pierce, Nora". Encyclopedia.com . Retrieved November 8, 2025.
2. "Nora Pierce". Community of Writers. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
3. "Nora Elena Pierce: Guess Who Loves Me Now?". www.barcelonareview.com. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
4. "The Insufficiency of Maps". Kirkus Reviews . February 15, 2007. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
5. The Insufficiency of Maps. June 1, 2008. ISBN   978-0-7432-9208-5.
6. "The Insufficiency of Maps by Nora Pierce". Publishers Weekly . February 12, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2026.
7. Rife, Susan (April 26, 2007). "Mapping an inner world". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved January 11, 2026.
8. Benson, Heidi (April 4, 2008). "Alarcon, Waters, Hass win booksellers award". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved November 8, 2025.