Lauren Groff

Lauren Groff
Born	(1978-07-23) July 23, 1978 Cooperstown, New York
Occupation	novelist
Nationality	United States
Genre	literary fiction
Website
www.laurengroff.com

Lauren Groff (born July 23, 1978) is an American novelist and short story writer.

Biography

Groff was born and raised in Cooperstown, New York. She graduated from Amherst College and from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with an MFA in fiction.^[1][2]

Career

Groff is the author of three novels and a short story collection. Her first novel, The Monsters of Templeton, was published by Hyperion on February 5, 2008 and debuted on the New York Times bestseller list.^[3] It was well received by Stephen King, who read it before publication and wrote an early review in Entertainment Weekly.^[4] It was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers in 2008, and was named one of the Best Books of 2008 by Amazon.com and the San Francisco Chronicle.^[5][6][7]

The Monsters of Templeton is a contemporary tale about coming home to Templeton, a representation of Cooperstown, New York. It is interspersed with voices from characters drawn from the town's history as well as James Fenimore Cooper's The Pioneers, which is also set in a fictionalized Cooperstown which he also calls Templeton.

Groff has had short stories published in the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, Five Points, and Ploughshares, and the anthologies Best New American Voices 2008, Pushcart Prize XXXII, and Best American Short Stories 2007, 2010 and 2014 editions. Many of these stories appear in her collection of short stories Delicate Edible Birds, which was released in January 2009.

Her second novel, Arcadia, was released in March 2012.^[8] Arcadia tells the story of the first child born in a fictional 1960s commune in upstate New York. A New York Times and Booksense Bestseller, it received favorable reviews from the New York Times Sunday Book Review,^[9] The Washington Post,^[10] and The Miami Herald.^[11] Arcadia was also recognized as one of the Best Books of 2012 by The New York Times^[12] The Washington Post,^[13] NPR,^[14] Vogue,^[15] The Globe and Mail,^[16] Christian Science Monitor,^[17] and Kirkus Reviews.^[18]

Her third novel, Fates and Furies, was released in September 2015. Fates and Furies is a portrait of at 24-year marriage from two points of view, first the husband's and then the wife's. It was nominated for the 2015 National Book Award for Fiction,^[19] the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction,^[20] and was featured in numerous "Best of 2015" fiction lists, including the selection by Amazon.com as the Best Book of 2015.^[21] President Barack Obama chose it as his favorite book of 2015.^[22]

Personal life

Groff is married with two children and currently lives in Gainesville, Florida. Groff's sister is the Olympic Triathlete Sarah True.^[23]

Bibliography

Novels and collections

• The Monsters of Templeton, a novel (2008)
• Delicate Edible Birds, a short story collection (2009)
• Arcadia, a novel (2012)
• Fates and Furies, a novel (2015)^[24]

Short stories

• "L. Debard and Aliette" in The Atlantic Monthly^[25]
• "Lucky Chow Fun" in Ploughshares
• "The Ballad of Sad Ophine" in Hobart
• "Elaborate" in Washington Square
• "Delicate Edible Birds" in Glimmer Train^[26]
• "Above and Below" in The New Yorker^[27]
• "Amaranth* in Lucky Peach
• "Ghosts and Empties" in "The New Yorker"^[28]
• "The Midnight Zone" in "The New Yorker"^[29]
• "Flower Hunters" in "The New Yorker" ^[30]

References

External links

• Official Website
• Coverage of Groff's March 2008 appearance with author Stephen King in Sarasota.
• New York Times Book Review of The Monsters of Templeton