Rebecca Makkai Explained

Rebecca Makkai
Birth Date:20 April 1978
Occupation:Writer
Education:Washington and Lee University (BA)
Middlebury College (MA)
Notableworks:The Great Believers (2018)

Rebecca Makkai (born April 20, 1978) is an American novelist and short-story writer.[1]

Early life and education

Makkai grew up in Lake Bluff, Illinois. She is the daughter of linguistics professors Valerie Becker Makkai and, a refugee to the US following the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Her paternal grandmother,, was a well-known actress and novelist in Hungary.[2] Makkai graduated from Lake Forest Academy and attended Washington and Lee University where she graduated with a B.A. in English.[3] She later earned a master's degree from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English.

Career

Writing

Makkai's debut novel, The Borrower, was released in June 2011.[4] [5] It was a Booklist Top Ten Debut, an Indie Next pick, an O, The Oprah Magazine selection,[6] and one of Chicago's choices for best fiction of 2011. It was translated into seven languages.

Her second novel, The Hundred-Year House, is set in the Northern suburbs of Chicago, and was published by Viking Press/Penguin Random House in July 2014.[7] It received starred reviews in Booklist, Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. The book won the 2015 Novel of the Year award from the Chicago Writers Association and was named a best book of 2014 by BookPage.

Makkai's third novel, titled The Great Believers, is set during the AIDS epidemic in 1980s Chicago and was published by Viking/Penguin Random House in June 2018.[8] The Great Believers won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction[9] and was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction.[10] It was also a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction,[11] and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize,[12] the ALA Stonewall Award,[13] and the Chicago Review of Books Award.[14]

Makkai's debut short story collection, Music for Wartime, was published by Viking in June 2015. A starred and featured review in Publishers Weekly said, "Though these stories alternate in time between WWII and the present day, they all are set, as described in the story "Exposition", within "the borders of the human heart"—a terrain that their author maps uncommonly well."[15] The Kansas City Star wrote that "if any short story writer can be considered a rock star of the genre, it's Rebecca Makkai."[16]

Her short stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 and as well as in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009 and 2016; she received a 2017 Pushcart Prize, a 2014 NEA fellowship, and a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship. Makkai's fiction has also appeared in The New Yorker,[17] Ploughshares, Tin House, The Threepenny Review, New England Review, and Shenandoah. Her nonfiction has appeared in Harpers, Salon.com, and The New Yorker website. Makkai's stories have also been featured on Public Radio International's Selected Shorts and This American Life.[18]

Teaching

Makkai has taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada University and Northwestern University. She is the artistic director of StoryStudio Chicago.[19] Makkai has also taught at Lake Forest College[20] and held the Mackey Chair in Creative Writing at Beloit College in Wisconsin.[21]

Personal life

She has two children and lives in Lake Forest, Illinois.[22] She met her husband, Jon Freeman, at Bread Loaf.[23]

Awards and honors

Awards for Makkai's writing!Year!Title!Award!Result!
2017Pushcart PrizeWinner
2018National Book Award for FictionFinalist
2019Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in FictionWinner
Pulitzer Prize in FictionFinalist
Los Angeles Times Book PrizeWinner
American Library Association Stonewall AwardWinner
Chicago Review of Books AwardWinner
2024I Have Some Questions for YouAspen Words Literary PrizeLonglist[24]

Bibliography

Novels

Short story collections

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rebecca Makkai, author, Chicago – Rebecca Makkai. Rebecca Makkai. December 25, 2014. January 7, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150107024541/http://rebeccamakkai.com/about/. live.
  2. News: Garner . Dwight . Dwight Garner (critic) . Review: Rebecca Makkai's 'Music for Wartime,' Stories With Echoes of Loss . 18 April 2019 . . 7 July 2015 . April 18, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190418230612/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/books/review-rebecca-makkais-music-for-wartime-stories-with-echoes-of-loss.html . live .
  3. Web site: Richardson. Tracy. Interview with Rebecca Makkai. Shenandoah. April 7, 2021. March 27, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210327184213/https://shenandoahliterary.org/features/. live.
  4. Web site: Interview with Rebecca Makkai. Shenandoahliterary.org. December 25, 2014. October 12, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141012071057/http://shenandoahliterary.org/61/interview-with-rebecca-makkai-2/#sthash.ainqe74D.dpuf. live.
  5. Web site: The Borrower By Rebecca Makkai – Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune. chicagotribune.com. June 21, 2011. December 25, 2014. March 24, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140324220054/http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-books-review-borrower-makkai,0,3584363.story. live.
  6. News: The Borrower. Oprah.com. 2019-06-18. en-us. February 23, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140223235923/http://www.oprah.com/book/The-Borrower-by-Rebecca-Makkai. live.
  7. Web site: Chicago Author Spotlight: Rebecca Makkai. https://web.archive.org/web/20171105085031/http://chicagoist.com/2011/06/26/chicago_author_spotlight_rebecca_ma.php. dead. November 5, 2017. Chicagoist.com. April 20, 2015.
  8. Web site: The Great Believers . Penguin Random House . 12 October 2018 . June 18, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180618203204/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/553185/the-great-believers-by-rebecca-makkai/9780735223523/ . live .
  9. Web site: 'The Great Believers,' 'Heavy: An American Memoir,' receive 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. 2019-01-27. News and Press Center. en. 2019-01-29. January 29, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190129122925/http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2019/01/great-believers-heavy-american-memoir-receive-2019-andrew-carnegie-medals. live.
  10. News: Grady . Constance . 2018-10-10 . The 2018 National Book Award finalists are in. Here's the full list. . 2018-10-11 . . March 30, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190330044709/https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/10/10/17959504/2018-national-book-award-finalists . live .
  11. Web site: 2019 Pulitzer Prizes. en. 2019-06-18. January 26, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220126034955/https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2019. live.
  12. Web site: Book Prizes. Festival of Books. en-US. 2019-06-18. July 3, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190703113739/https://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/bookprizes-2018/. dead.
  13. Web site: Stonewall Book Awards List. 2009-09-09. Round Tables. en. 2019-06-18. June 14, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190614095254/http://www.ala.org/rt/glbtrt/award/stonewall/honored. live.
  14. Web site: The Fiction Shortlist for the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Award. Morgan. Adam. 2018-10-10. Chicago Review of Books. en. 2019-06-18. December 14, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191214121041/https://chireviewofbooks.com/2018/10/10/the-fiction-shortlist-for-the-2018-chicago-review-of-books-award/. live.
  15. Web site: June 15, 2015 . Music for Wartime . January 30, 2023 . Publishers Weekly . January 30, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230130175008/https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780525426691 . live .
  16. Web site: Pivovar . Christine . July 25, 2015 . Rebecca Makkai shows off her skill for short stories in ‘Music for Wartime’ . April 15, 2024 . The Kansas City Star . December 23, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151223112140/http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/article28397902.html . live .
  17. Rebecca Makkai on Serious Parody . The New Yorker . June 27, 2023 . June 27, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230627210109/https://www.newyorker.com/books/this-week-in-fiction/rebecca-makkai-05-08-23 . live .
  18. Web site: Book Review: 'The Borrower' by Rebecca Makkai. Wbez.org. December 25, 2014. November 17, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151117023318/http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/2011-07-19/book-review-borrower-rebecca-makkai-89353. dead.
  19. Web site: Faculty of the Master of Arts in Writing . December 7, 2020 . Northwestern University School of Professional Studies . December 5, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201205152307/https://sps.northwestern.edu/masters/writing/faculty.php . live .
  20. Web site: Rebecca Freeman . December 7, 2020 . . May 27, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230527215008/https://www.lakeforest.edu/academics/faculty/makkai . live .
  21. Web site: Rebecca Makkai . December 7, 2020 . . October 20, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201020035513/https://www.beloit.edu/live/profiles/524-rebecca-makkai . live .
  22. Web site: Borrelli . Christopher . June 20, 2018 . Rebecca Makkai, author of Chicago-set 'The Great Believers,' knows the value of diligence . December 7, 2020 . . November 9, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201109021528/https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-rebecca-makkai-0624-story.html . live .
  23. Web site: Jennings . Matt . July 26, 2019 . A Conversation with Rebecca Makkai . December 7, 2020 . Middlebury Magazine . November 29, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201129195617/http://middleburymagazine.com/features/a-conversation-with-rebecca-makkai/ . live .
  24. Web site: Anderson . Porter . 2023-11-08 . The Aspen Words Literary Prize Names Its 2024 Longlist . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231129044459/https://publishingperspectives.com/2023/11/the-35000-aspen-words-literary-prize-names-its-2024-longlist/ . 2023-11-29 . 2024-04-28 . Publishing Perspectives . en-US.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rebecca Makkai".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.