Meg Wolitzer (born May 28, 1959) is an American novelist, known for '' The Wife'', ''The Ten-Year Nap'', ''The Uncoupling,'' ''The Interestings'', and ''The Female Persuasion.'' She works as an instructor in the MFA program at

Stony Brook Southampton Stony Brook Southampton is a campus location of Stony Brook University, located in Southampton, New York between the Shinnecock Indian Reservation and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on the eastern end of Long Island. History Southampton College, ...

Life and career

Wolitzer was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and raised in

Syosset, New York Syosset (also known as Little East Woods or Locust Grove) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the Town of Oyster Bay, in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 19,259 at the 202 ...

, the daughter of novelist

Hilma Wolitzer Hilma Wolitzer (born 1930) is an American novelist. Career Wolitzer's first novel for adults, '' Ending'', was published in 1974. In his review of the novel, lead ''New York Times'' critic Anatole Broyard wrote, “After finishing Wolitzer’s ...

(née Liebman) and psychologist Morton Wolitzer. She was raised Jewish. Wolitzer studied creative writing at

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 from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1981. She wrote her first novel, ''Sleepwalking'', a story of three college girls obsessed with poetry and death, while still an undergraduate; it was published in 1982. Her following books include ''Hidden Pictures'' (1986), ''This Is Your Life'' (1988), ''Surrender, Dorothy'' (1998), ''The Wife'' (2003), ''The Position'' (2005), ''The Ten-Year Nap'' (2008), ''The Uncoupling'' (2011), and ''The Interestings'' (2013). Her short story "Tea at the House" was featured in 1998's ''

Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in con ...

'' collection. Her novel for younger readers, ''The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman'', was published in 2011. She also co-authored, with Jesse Green, a book of cryptic crosswords: ''Nutcrackers: Devilishly Addictive Mind Twisters for the Insatiably Verbivorous'' (1991), and has written about the relative difficulty women writers face in gaining critical acclaim. She has taught creative writing at the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop,

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in one of more than 60 areas of study. History Sk ...

, and, most recently, was a guest artist at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. Over the past decade she has also taught at both

's MFA in Creative Writing program and the Southampton Writers Conference and the Florence Writers Workshop. Three films have been based on her work; '' This Is My Life'', scripted and directed by

Nora Ephron Nora Ephron ( ; May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for her romantic comedy films and was nominated three times for the Writers Guild of America Award and the Academy Award f ...

, the 2006 made-for-television movie, '' Surrender, Dorothy'', and the 2017 drama '' The Wife'', starring

Glenn Close Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, Close has garnered numerous accolades, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards ...

. ''The Uncoupling'' was the subject of the first coast-to-coast virtual book club discussion, via

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

. As of 2018, Wolitzer resides in the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, with her husband, science writer

Richard Panek Richard Panek is an American popular science writer, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of space, the universe, and gravity. He has published several books and has written articles for a number of news outlets and scientific ...

Works

Novels

* ''Sleepwalking'' (1982) , * ''Hidden Pictures'' (1986) * ''This Is Your Life'' (1988) * ''Friends for Life'' 1994 , * ''Surrender, Dorothy'' (1998) * '' The Wife'' (2003) , * ''

The Position ''The Position: A Novel'' is a 2005 novel by Meg Wolitzer. Summary It tells the story of a book titled ''Pleasuring: One Couple's Journey to Fulfillment'' and the effects it has on a family. The fictional book is a sex manual, much like ''The ...

'' (2005) * ''The Ten-Year Nap'' (2008) , * ''The Uncoupling'' (2011) , * ''The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman'' (2011) * ''The Interestings'' (2013) , * ''Belzhar'' (2014) , * ''The Female Persuasion'' (2018) , * ''To Night Owl From Dogfish (2019)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolitzer, Meg 1959 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American women short story writers People from Syosset, New York Brown University alumni Smith College alumni University of Houston faculty Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers Novelists from Texas Novelists from Iowa Writers from Brooklyn Jewish American novelists American women academics 21st-century American Jews