Samantha Hunt (born May 15, 1971) is an American novelist, essayist and short-story writer. She is the author of ''The Dark Dark'' and ''The Unwritten Book'', published by Farrar, Straus, Giroux; ''The Seas'', published by MacAdam/Cage and Tin House; and the novels ''Mr. Splitfoot'' and ''

The Invention of Everything Else ''The Invention of Everything Else'' is a 2008 novel written by American author Samantha Hunt. The novel presents a fictionalized account of the last days in the life of Nikola Tesla, the Serbian-American electrical engineer. Other fictionali ...

'', published by

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Financial Dist ...

Early life

Hunt was born the youngest of six children in 1971. Her father was an editor, her mother is a painter. She moved in 1989 to attend the University of Vermont, where she studied literature, printmaking and geology. She received her MFA from Warren Wilson College, before moving to New York City in 1999.

Career

Books

Hunt's debut novel, ''The Seas'', first published in 2004, is a magical-realist novel about a young girl in a Northern town who believes herself to be a mermaid. The book was voted one of the ''Village Voice'' Literary Supplement's Favorite Books of 2004, and won the National Book Foundation award for "5 under 35" in 2006. In 2018, ''The Seas'' was republished by Tin House Books in 2018 with a foreword by Maggie Nelson. In 2008, she published her second novel, ''

'' through

. The novel provides a fictionalized account of the final days of inventor Nikola Tesla. It won both the Bard Fiction Prize in 2010, and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. Her other novels include ''Mr. Splitfoot (2016)'', a ghost story, and ''The Dark Dark: Stories'' (2017), a collection of short stories. Hunt's short stories and essays have appeared in '' The New Yorker'', ''

New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', '' McSweeney's'', '' The Atlantic'', '' A Public Space'', '' Cabinet'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'', ''

The Believer Believer(s) or The Believer(s) may refer to: Religion * Believer, a person who holds a particular belief ** Believer, a person who holds a particular religious belief *** Believers, Christians with a religious faith in the divine Christ *** Beli ...

'', ''Blind Spot'', ''Harper’s Bazaar'', '' The Village Voice'', '' Seed Magazine'', '' Tin House'', '' New York Magazine'', on the radio program '' This American Life'' and in a number of anthologies including ''Trampoline'' edited by Kelly Link. Hunt's play, ''The Difference Engine'', a story about the life of

Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

, was produced by the Theater of a Two-Headed Calf.

Awards

Hunt won the Bard Fiction Prize, the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 award, the St. Francis College Literary Prize and was a finalist for the Orange Prize. In 2017, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction.

Literary influences

Hunt's credits her experiences growing up one of six children for her interest in literature, her dialogue, and her fictional portrayals of motherhood.

Profession

Hunt is a professor of writing at the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county i ...

Bibliography

Books

* ''The Unwritten Book'' (2022) * ''The Dark Dark: Stories'' (2017) * ''Mr Splitfoot'' (2016) * ''

'' (2008)
Reading at Google
' *
The Seas
' (2004) * ''My Inventions and Other Writings'' by Nikola Tesla and Samantha Hunt (introduction - 2011)

Online texts

Short stories

* "A Love Story", ''The New Yorker'', 22 May 2017 * "The Yellow", ''The New Yorker'', 21 November 2010 * "Three Days"'', The New Yorker'', 8 January 2016 * "Go Team"'', The Atlantic'', March 2020

Essays

* "There Is Only One Direction", ''New York Magazine'', 12 May 2015 * "Queer Theorem", '' Lapham's Quarterly'', Vol. 10, No. 2, Spring 2017 * "Terrible Twins"'', The New York Times Magazine'', 1 April 2011 * "Swiss Near-Miss", '' This American Life'', 11 June 2014 * "A Brief History of Books That Do Not Exist", Lithub, 4 January 2016

References

External links

*'' The New York Times'
Interview
at Bookslut *Interview on th
Bat Segundo Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Samantha 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers 1971 births American women essayists American women novelists Living people