Catherine Lacey (born April 9, 1985) is an American writer.

Career

Lacey's first novel, '' Nobody Is Ever Missing'', was published by

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

. Dwight Garner, in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', called her prose "dreamy and fierce at the same time." ''

Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

'' named it "the (hands down) best book of the year." It also made ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''s list for the best books of 2014. It has been translated into Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, and German. The novel was a finalist for the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

Young Lions Fiction Award The Young Lions Fiction Award is an annual US literary prize of $10,000, awarded to a writer who is 35 years old or younger for a novel or collection of short stories. The award was established in 2001 by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick ...

. In 2016, Lacey won a Whiting Award for her fiction. In 2017 Lacey was named one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists. Her second novel, ''

The Answers ''The Answers'' is the first album by Blue October. It was recorded in October 1997, at Sound Arts Studio in Houston, Texas. It was released in the United States, during January 1998, by RoDan Entertainment/Scoop. It is Blue October's only alb ...

'', was published by

. It received several positive reviews and comparisons to

Don Delillo Donald Richard DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, per ...

and

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...

. In an interview with ''Vogue'', Lacey said, "Even the person who wrote ''Nobody Is Ever Missing'', I can’t really speak on her behalf anymore. The text is kind of what's left of that person, and that person doesn’t exist anymore. It both makes me very uncomfortable and very relaxed, because who you are and what you think that you’re attached to vanishes very quickly."

Lacey was a founding member of 3B, a cooperatively owned and operated bed and breakfast in downtown Brooklyn, where she lived as she wrote her first novel. In 2012 Lacey won an Artists' Fellowship from the

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

that she credits in giving her the financial freedom to finish ''Nobody Is Ever Missing''. Her 2020 novel, ''Pew'', was shortlisted for the 2021

Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published w ...

and won the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award. In 2023, she published her fourth novel '' Biography of X'', a fictional biography.

The New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

described it as a book that "thrillingly subverts the conventions of life-writing."

Personal life

In August 2015, she married actor and teacher Peter Musante; they divorced the next year. Lacey was partnered with writer

Jesse Ball Jesse Ball (born June 7, 1978) is an American novelist and poet. He has published novels, volumes of poetry, short stories, and drawings. His works are distinguished by the use of a spare style and have been compared to those of Jorge Luis Borges ...

from 2016 to 2021. She has taught at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in the Writing Program at the School of the Arts."Catherine Lacey"
, Writing Program, Columbia University School of the Arts.

Bibliography

Novels

* * , * *

Short fiction

Nonfiction

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacey, Catherine 21st-century American novelists Novelists from Mississippi Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Living people People from Tupelo, Mississippi 21st-century American women writers Columbia University faculty 1985 births Novelists from New York (state) American women academics American women novelists