Katherine Vaz Explained

Katherine Vaz
Birth Date:	26 August 1955
Birth Place:	Castro Valley, California, US
Occupation:	Writer
Genre:	Novels, short stories, non-fiction, children’s literature

Katherine Vaz (born August 26, 1955) is a Portuguese-American writer. A Briggs-Copeland Fellow in Fiction at Harvard University (2003–2009), a 2006–2007 Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study,^[1] and the Fall, 2012 Harman Fellow at Baruch College in New York,^[2] she is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Above the Salt, a People Magazine Book of the Week and a Top Book ofNovember, a Top Three Pick by Good Morning, America, and a Most Anticipated Bookfor Fall, 2023 by Zibby’s Books and Goodreads.^[3]

Vaz's novel Saudade (St. Martin’s Press, 1994) is the first contemporary novel about Portuguese-Americans from a major New York publisher. It was optioned by Marlee Matlin/Solo One Productions and selected in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers series.^[4]

Her novel, Mariana, (HarperCollins, 1997), was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the Top 30 International Books of 1998 and has been translated into six languages.^[1] Mariana has been optioned for screen development with Harrison Productions.^[5]

Vaz's first short story collection Fado & Other Stories received the 1997 Drue Heinz Literature Prize^[6] and her second collection, Our Lady of the Artichokes, won the 2007 Prairie Schooner Book Prize.^[7]

Vaz is a recipient of a Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (1993) ^[8] and the Davis Humanities Institute Fellowship (1999). She has been named by the Luso-Americano as one of the Top 50 Luso-Americanos of the twentieth century ^[9] and is the first Portuguese-American to have her work recorded for the Library of Congress, housed in the Hispanic Division. The Portuguese-American Women’s Association (PAWA) named her 2003 Woman of the Year.^[10] She was appointed to the six-person U.S. Presidential Delegation to open the American Pavilion at the World’s Fair/Expo 98 in Lisbon.^[11] She lives in New York City and the Springs area of East Hampton with Christopher Cerf, whom she married in July 2015.^[12]

Awards

• 1997: Drue Heinz Literature Prize, Fado & Other Stories ^[13]
• 2007: Prairie Schooner Book Prize, "https://web.archive.org/web/20121023094141/http://prairieschooner.unl.edu/?q=our-lady-artichokes-and-other-portuguese-american-stories" ^[7]

Accolades

• Vaz is the first Portuguese-American writer to have work recorded for the Archives of the Library of Congress
• Named one of the top fifty Luso-Americans of the 20th century by LusoAmericano Magazine
• Named by the Portuguese Leadership Council of the U.S. as one of the All-Time Most Influential Lusa Women
• Appointed to the six-person Presidential Delegation to open the U.S. pavilion at Expo 98/World's Fair in Lisbon^[14]
• Above the Salt chosen as one of People Magazine's Best New Books to Read in Nov. 2023^[15]

Published works

Novels

• Saudade (St. Martin’s Press, June 1994)
• Mariana (HarperCollins/Flamingo, 1997)
• Above the Salt (Flatiron Books, MacMillan, 2023)

Story collections

• Fado & Other Stories (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997)
• Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American Stories (University of Nebraska Press, 2008)

Short stories

• "I Can’t Keep Anything Nice in This House" (Descant, Fort Worth, TX, Fall/Winter 1986)
• "What I Did on My Christmas Vacation" (Proof Rock, Halifax, VA, Winter 1988)
• "Original Sin" (Black Ice, Belmont, MA, 1988)
• "A Little Irish Water Music" (The Sun, March 1988)
• "Sostenuto" (Kalliope, Jacksonville, FL, February 1988)
• "Fado" (TriQuarterly, Fall 1989)
• "Cartooning is Dead" (Primavera, Ann Arbor, MI, 1989)
• "Add Blue to Make White Whiter" (Other Voices, Summer/Fall 1990)
• "Red Tide" (Webster Review, Webster Groves, MO, Spring 1991)
• "Still Life" (The American Voice, Louisville, KY, 1993)
• "Scalings" (The Gettysburg Review, Spring 1995)
• "The Birth of Water Stories" (Speak, San Francisco, CA, October 1996)
• "Island Fever" (Nimrod, Tulsa, OK, Fall/Winter 1996)
• "The Lost Love Letter of a Nun" (Madame Class Magazine, Milan, Italy, August 1997)
• "Michigan Girl" (The Iowa Review, December 2000)
• "Utter" (The Malahat Review, Fall 2000)
• "The Man Who Was Made of Netting" (Tin House, January 2001)
• "My Family, Posing for Rodin" (The Antioch Review, Summer 2001)
• "Taking a Stitch in a Dead Man’s Arm" (BOMB, Winter 2001)

• "Blue Flamingo Looks At Red Water" (The Sun May, 2002)
• "The Glass-Eaters" (Glimmer Train, Fall 2002)
• "Bébé Marie Springs from the Box" (ACM (Another Chicago Magazine), Fall 2002)
• "Annette Kellermann Is My Hero" (The Alaska Quarterly Review, Spring 2003)
• "Pavane for a Dead Princess" (Kalliope, Spring 2003)
• "the rice artist" (The Iowa Review, August 2003)
• "Burning Sailor Boy" (Provincetown Arts, Summer 2003)
• "Our Lady of the Artichokes" (Pleiades, Fall 2003)
• "The Love Life of an Assistant Animator" (Glimmer Train, Fall 2003)
• "A Simple Affair" (Gargoyle Magazine, May 2004)
• "The Knife Longs for the Ruby" (Ninth Letter, Spring 2004)
• "Our Bones Here Are Waiting for Yours" (Five Points, 2004)
• "East Bay Grease" (The Antioch Review, Summer 2004)
• "One Must Speak of Sex in French" (Confrontation, Fall 2004/Winter 2005)
• "All Riptides Roar with Sand from Opposing Shores" (Notre Dame Review, Winter 2006)
• "Lisbon Story" (Harvard Review, Spring 2006)

Non-fiction

• "Songs of the Soul, Songs of the Night," The New York Times, Sophisticated Traveler Magazine, September 18, 1994
• Signatures of Grace (Dutton, 2000). Essay on Baptism. (In conjunction with Mary Gordon, Andre Dubus, Patricia Hampl, Ron Hansen, Paula Huston, Paul Mariani).
• "Carving the Fruitstones," for anthology about short fiction, 2004, Greenwood Publications.
• "This Howling," essay on the Azores/introduction to novel by João de Melo (My World Is Not of This Kingdom, translated from Portuguese by Gregory Rabassa), Aliform Press, 2003.

Children's literature

• "The Kingdom of Melting Glances" short story in A Wolf at the Door (Simon & Schuster, 2000, in fourth printing)
• "A World Painted by Birds" in Green Man anthology (Viking, 2002)
• "My Swan Sister," title story in Swan Sister and Other Stories (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
• "Your Garnet Eyes,"in anthology Faery Reel, (Viking, 2004)
• "Chamber Music for Animals," in Coyote Road anthology (Viking, 2006)

Critical response

Vaz's novel "Saudade" received positive reviews, earning an average 4/5 stars on Goodreads.^[16] According to the Library Journal, “This wonderfully inventive novel, which contains elements of magic realism, is infused with a sense of saudade-a Portuguese word that, according to the author, can be understood as an extremely intense longing for a time, place, or people... First novelist Vaz has written a challenging and rewarding work of fiction.”^[17]

Her novels "Mariana" and "Above the Salt" also received positive reviews.^[18] According to Maaza Mengiste, “Katherine Vaz writes with piercing, startling beauty: every sentence suffused with longing, every moment shining with possibility. In Above the Salt she offers us a story of discovery and loss, and the fragile but unwavering bonds of love that endure, despite it all. Vaz’s Saudade is a novel that has stayed with me for decades. In this latest book, Katherine Vaz has confirmed herself as one of our best writers.” ^[19]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Radcliffe Institute Fellows - Katherine Vaz . 2012-03-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120509150501/http://www.radcliffe.edu/print/fellowships/fellows_2007kvaz.htm . 2012-05-09 . dead .
2. Web site: The Sidney Harman Writer-In-Residence Program . 2024-01-10.
3. Hubbard . Kim . People's Picks: The Best New Books . People Magazine . October 30, 2023 . 32 .
4. Web site: Rediscover the bright new literary lights of years past with this retrospective of previous Discover Great New Writers selections. . 2012-03-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150211144345/http://www.barnesandnoble.com/awards/index.asp?PID=17967 . 2015-02-11 . dead .
5. Web site: The Center for Fiction Presents Katherine Vaz on Above the Salt . Center for Fiction . 10 July 2024.
6. Web site: Browse . 2020-02-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070518204118/http://www.upress.pitt.edu/renderHtmlPage.aspx?srcHtml=htmlSourceFiles%2Fdrueheinz.htm#1 . 2007-05-18 . dead .
7. Web site: Prairie Schooner | Stories, Poems, Essays, and Reviews since 1926 . 2012-03-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121023094141/http://prairieschooner.unl.edu/?q=our-lady-artichokes-and-other-portuguese-american-stories . 2012-10-23 . dead .
8. Web site: National Endowment for the Arts . 2009-11-19 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090612220201/http://www.nea.gov/pub/NEA_lit.pdf . 2009-06-12 .
9. Web site: Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture.
10. Web site: None.
11. Web site: 2006–2007 Radcliffe Institute Fellows - Katherine Vaz . 2012-03-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120509142538/http://www.radcliffe.edu/fellowships/fellows_2007kvaz.aspx . 2012-05-09 . dead .
12. Web site: Nir . Sarah Maslin . 2015-07-10 . Katherine Vaz and Christopher Cerf: Kermit Will Attend . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210516182221/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/fashion/weddings/katherine-vaz-and-christopher-cerf-kermit-will-attend.html . 2021-05-16 . 2021-05-16 . The New York Times . en-US.
13. News: Within the Lighted City . Women's Review of Books . 1998-03-01 . Katherine Vaz achieves this broader scope in Fado and Other Stories, a first collection that won the 1997 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. .
14. Web site: ABOUT . KatherineVaz.com . 1 April 2024 .
15. Web site: PEOPLE's Best New Books to Read in Nov. 2023 . People.com . 2 April 2024.
16. Web site: Saudade . Goodreads . 29 April 2024.
17. Web site: Katherine Vaz . The Shipman Agency . 29 April 2024.
18. Web site: Above the Salt . Goodreads . 29 April 2024.
19. Web site: Katherine Vaz . The Shipman Agency . 29 April 2024.