Hanya Yanagihara (born 1974) is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

, editor, and

travel writer The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern period ...

. She grew up in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. She is best known for her bestselling novel ''

A Little Life ''A Little Life'' is a 2015 novel by American writer Hanya Yanagihara. Despite its length and difficult subject matters, it became a critically acclaimed best seller. Structure ''A Little Life'' follows a chronological narrative with flashbacks ...

'', which was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize, and for being the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of ''T Magazine''.

Early life

Hanya Yanagihara was born in 1974 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Her father,

hematologist Hematology (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to ...

oncologist Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

Ronald Yanagihara, is from Hawaii, and her mother was born in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. Yanagihara is partly of Japanese descent through her father. As a child, Yanagihara moved frequently with her family, living in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. She attended

Punahou High School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...

in Hawaii. She attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

and graduated in 1995. Yanagihara has said that her father introduced her as a girl to the work of

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

and to "British writers of a certain age", such as

Anita Brookner Anita Brookner (16 July 1928 – 10 March 2016) was an English novelist and art historian. She was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge from 1967 to 1968 and was the first woman to hold this visiting professorship. She wa ...

Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her fi ...

, and

Barbara Pym Barbara Mary Crampton Pym FRSL (2 June 1913 – 11 January 1980) was an English novelist. In the 1950s she published a series of social comedies, of which the best known are ''Excellent Women'' (1952) and '' A Glass of Blessings'' (1958). In 1977 ...

. Of Pym and Brookner, she says, "there is a suspicion of the craft that the male writers of their generation didn't have, a metaphysical reckoning of what is it actually doing for the world". She has said that "the contemporary writers I admire most are

Hilary Mantel Dame Hilary Mary Mantel ( ; born Thompson; 6 July 1952 – 22 September 2022) was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, ''Every Day Is Mother's Day'', was releas ...

Kazuo Ishiguro Sir Kazuo Ishiguro ( ; born 8 November 1954) is a British novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Britain in 1960 with his parents when he was five. He is one of the most cr ...

, and

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Proust, via Nabokov", Banville himself maintains that W. B. Yeats and Henry J ...

Career

After college, Yanagihara moved to New York and worked for several years as a publicist. She wrote and was an editor for ''

Condé Nast Traveler ''Condé Nast Traveler'' is a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast. The magazine has won 25 National Magazine Awards. The Condé Nast unit of Advance Publications purchased ''Signature'', a magazine for Diners Club memb ...

''. Her first novel, ''

The People in the Trees ''The People in the Trees'' is the 2013 debut novel of author Hanya Yanagihara. Yanagihara stated that her book was in part inspired by Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, who was revered in the scientific community before being accused of child molestati ...

'', partly based on the real-life case of the virologist

Daniel Carleton Gajdusek Daniel Carleton Gajdusek ( ;Holley, Joe (December 16, 2008) "D. Carleton Gajdusek; Controversial Scientist", ''The Washington Post'', p. B5. September 9, 1923 – December 12, 2008) was an American physician and medical researcher who was the co ...

, was praised as one of the best novels of 2013. Yanagihara's ''

'' was published in March 10th, 2015, and received widespread critical acclaim. The book was shortlisted for the 2015

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

for fiction, the 2016

Women's Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

and won the 2015

Kirkus Prize The Kirkus Prize is an American literary award conferred by the book review magazine '' Kirkus Reviews''. Established in 2014, the Kirkus Prize bestows annually. Three authors are awarded each, divided into three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction ...

for fiction. Yanagihara was also selected as a finalist for the 2015

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

in Fiction. ''A Little Life'' defied the expectations of its editor, of Yanagihara's agent, and of the author herself, that it would not sell well. Yanagihara described writing the book at its best as "glorious as surfing; it felt like being carried aloft on something I couldn't conjure but was lucky enough to have caught, if for just a moment. At its worst, I felt I was somehow losing my ownership over the book. It felt, oddly, like being one of those people who adopt a tiger or lion when the cat's a baby and cuddly and manageable, and then watch in dismay and awe when it turns on them as an adult". In 2015, she left Condé Nast to become a deputy editor at '' T: The New York Times Style Magazine.'' She has said that after she published her best selling sophomore novel, people in the publishing industry were baffled by her decision to take a job at ''T''. Describing the publishing world as "a provincial community, more or less as snobby as the fashion industry", she said, "I'd get these underhanded comments like, 'oh, I never knew there were words n ''T Magazine''worth reading'". Of working as an editor while writing fiction on the side, she says, "I've never done it any other way". In 2017, she became the editor-in-chief of ''T''. Yanagihara's third novel, ''

To Paradise ''To Paradise'' is a 2022 novel by American novelist Hanya Yanagihara. The book, Yanagihara's third, takes place in an alternate version of New York City, and has three sections, respectively set in 1893, 1993, and 2093. Though a bestseller, the ...

'', was published in January 11th, 2022, and reached number one on ''The New York Times'' best seller list.

Awards and honours

* ''

:'' Winner of 2015

for Fiction * ''

:'' Shortlisted for the 2015

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

* ''

:'' Finalist for the 2015

for Fiction * ''

:'' Shortlisted for the 2016

Works and publications

* ''

'', 2013 * ''

'', 2015 * ''

'', 2022

References

External links

Interview on Meet The Writers with Georgina Godwin
at Soundcloud {{DEFAULTSORT:Yanagihara, Hanya 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American women travel writers American travel writers American magazine writers American magazine editors American women editors American novelists of Asian descent American writers of Japanese descent American writers of Korean descent American women writers of Asian descent Novelists from Hawaii Writers from New York City Kirkus Prize winners Punahou School alumni Smith College alumni Living people 1974 births