The Hopwood Awards are a major scholarship program at the University of Michigan, founded by Avery Hopwood.
Zadie Smith FRSL is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, White Teeth (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She became a tenured professor in the Creative Writing faculty of New York University in September 2010.
Alison Stewart Lurie was an American novelist and academic. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her 1984 novel Foreign Affairs. Although better known as a novelist, she wrote many non-fiction books and articles, particularly on children's literature and the semiotics of dress.
Alice McDermott is an American writer and university professor. For her 1998 novel Charming Billy she won an American Book Award and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. She was shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is a memoir by American author Dave Eggers. Published in 2000, the book chronicles Eggers' experiences following the sudden death of both his parents and his subsequent responsibility for raising his younger brother, Christopher "Toph" Eggers. The memoir, noted for its postmodern style and self-referential prose, was a commercial and critical success, becoming a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and hitting number one on The New York Times bestseller list.
Saturday (2005) is a novel by Ian McEwan. It is set in Fitzrovia, central London, on Saturday, 15 February 2003, as a large demonstration is taking place against the United States' 2003 invasion of Iraq. The protagonist, Henry Perowne, a 48-year-old neurosurgeon, has planned a series of errands and pleasures, culminating in a family dinner in the evening. As he goes about his day, he ponders the meaning of the protest and the problems that inspired it; however, the day is disrupted by an encounter with a violent, troubled man.
Marilynne Summers Robinson is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and the 2016 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. In 2016, Robinson was named in Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people. Robinson began teaching at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1991 and retired in the spring of 2016.
The Known World is a historical novel by American author Edward P. Jones, published in 2003. Set in antebellum Virginia, the novel explores the complex and morally ambiguous world of slavery, focusing on the unusual phenomenon of black enslavers. The book received widespread critical acclaim for its innovative storytelling, richly drawn characters, and profound examination of power, race, and the human condition in the context of American slavery.
Ann Patchett is an American author. She received the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction in the same year, for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include The Patron Saint of Liars (1992), Taft (1994), The Magician's Assistant (1997), Run (2007), State of Wonder (2011), Commonwealth (2016), The Dutch House (2019), and Tom Lake (2023). The Dutch House was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Mary Gaitskill is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, Esquire, The Best American Short Stories, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. Her books include the short story collection Bad Behavior (1988) and Veronica (2005), which was nominated for both the National Book Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.
Adam Haslett is an American fiction writer and journalist. His debut short story collection, You Are Not a Stranger Here, and his second novel, Imagine Me Gone, were both finalists for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Academy in Berlin. In 2017, he won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Ron Rash is an American poet, short story writer and novelist and the Parris Distinguished Professor in Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University.
Jennifer Egan is an American novelist and short-story writer. Her novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. From 2018 to 2020, she served as the president of PEN America.
Laila Lalami is a Moroccan-American novelist, essayist, and professor. After earning her licence ès lettres degree in Morocco, she received a fellowship to study in the United Kingdom (UK), where she earned an MA in linguistics.
Uglies is a 2005 dystopian novel by Scott Westerfeld. It is set in a future post-scarcity world in which everyone is considered an "Ugly" until they are then turned "Pretty" by extreme cosmetic surgery when they reach the age of 16. It tells the story of a teenager, Tally Youngblood, who rebels against society's enforced conformity after her friends Shay and David show her the downsides to becoming a "Pretty".
Rebecca Margot Godfrey was a Canadian novelist and non-fiction writer.
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter is a volume of her previously published collections of fiction and four uncollected works of short fiction.
Heroes of the Frontier (ISBN 9780451493804) is a 2016 novel by American Author Dave Eggers. Alfred A. Knopf published the book on July 26, 2016. Set in the rugged wilderness of Alaska, the story follows Josie, a disillusioned single mother who goes on a road trip with her two children to escape her troubled past and societal expectations. The novel explores themes of parenthood, modern disillusionment, and the possibility of personal redemption.
My Brilliant Friend is a 2011 novel by Italian author Elena Ferrante. It is the first of four volumes in Ferrante's critically acclaimed Neapolitan Novels series. The novel, translated into English by Ann Goldstein in 2012, explores themes of female friendship, social class, and personal identity against the backdrop of post-war Naples.
The Mare is a 2015 novel by American author Mary Gaitskill. The story focuses on a young Dominican girl, Velvet Vargas, who moves to upstate New York to live with a white couple for a few weeks and her encounters with a horse, Fugly Girl, at a neighboring stable. The novel was partially inspired by Gaitskill's own experience hosting a child with the charity Fresh Air Fund and Enid Bagnold's 1935 novel National Velvet. The novel received primarily positive reviews.
