Elissa Schappell is an American novelist, short-story writer, editor and essayist. She was a co-founder and editor of the literary magazine ''

Tin House ''Tin House'' is an American book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer of 1998. He enlisted Holly MacArt ...

''.

Writing career

Schappell graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

with an MFA in creative writing. Her first job in publishing was with ''

Spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

'' magazine in the 1980s. Schappell's first book of fiction, ''Use Me'', a collection of 10 linked short stories, was published in 2000 by William Morrow, and was runner-up for the

PEN/Hemingway Award The PEN/Hemingway Award is awarded annually to a full-length novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Hemingway ...

. A second book of fiction, ''Blueprints for Building Better Girls'', was published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

in 2011. It was chosen as a "Best Book of the Year" by ''

The San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...

'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' '' Newsweek/The Daily Beast'', and ''

O, The Oprah Magazine ''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. Overview It was first published on April 19, 2000. , its average paid circulation was ...

''. Schappell's articles, fiction, interviews and essays have been published in magazines including '' GQ'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'', ''

BOMB A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

'', ''

One Story ''One Story'' is a literary magazine which publishes 12 issues a year, each issue containing a single short story. The magazine was founded in 2002 by writers Hannah Tinti and Maribeth Batcha. Smith, Dinitia. They offer up to $500 and 25 consumer ...

'' and ''

Nerve A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons) in the peripheral nervous system. A nerve transmits electrical impulses. It is the basic unit of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the e ...

''. She has written book reviews for ''

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 ...

'', ''

Bookforum ''Bookforum'' is an American book review magazine devoted to books and the discussion of literature that was based in New York City, New York. The magazine was founded in 1994 and announced in December of 2022 it would cease publishing after ...

'', and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

''. She was the longtime author of the "Hot Type" book column in '' Vanity Fair'', where she is also a contributing editor. Schappell was one of the founders and editors of the literary magazine ''

''. She was previously a Senior Editor at ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...

''. Schappell teaches at schools including

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 ...

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, and Queens University.

Personal life

Originally from

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, Schappell now lives 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 ...

. She is married to Rob Spillman, with whom she co-founded ''Tin House''.

Publications

*"Novice Bitch" in the anthology ''The KGB Bar Reader'' (1998) *''Use Me'' (William Morrow, 2000) *Contributed an article about

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

to ''The Paris Review'' anthology ''Beat Writers at Work'' *"Crossing the Line in the Sand: How Mad Can Mother Get?" in ''The Bitch in the House: 26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage'' (2002) *"That sort of woman" in ''The Mrs Dalloway Reader'' (2003) *"Sex and the Single Squirrel" in ''Cooking and Stealing: The Tin House Nonfiction Reader'' (2004) *Co-edited and contributed to ''The Friend Who Got Away: Twenty Women's True-Life Tales of Friendships That Blew Up, Burned Out or Faded Away'' *Essay on

Naked Lunch ''Naked Lunch'' (sometimes ''The Naked Lunch'') is a 1959 novel by American writer William S. Burroughs. The book is structured as a series of loosely connected vignettes, intended by Burroughs to be read in any order. The reader follows the na ...

in ''Bound to Last: 30 Writers on Their Most Cherished Book'' (2010) *''Blueprints for Building Better Girls'' (Simon & Schuster, 2011) *"High-Strung Knitter" in ''Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting'' (2013)

References

External links

* Elissa Schappell
"Women on the Verge"
''The New York Times'', February 15, 2013.
Elissa Schappell
at Salon.
Schappell
at Random House website
Interview with Elissa Schappell
on Read First, Ask Later, Episode 18
"The Bitch In the House'", NPR interview with Schappell, 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schappell, Elissa Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American humorists American magazine founders American magazine writers American women in business American women novelists American women short story writers Columbia University faculty Critics employed by The New York Times New York University alumni New York University faculty Vanity Fair (magazine) people American women critics American women essayists Women humorists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American essayists Novelists from New York (state) American women academics