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Lauren Groff

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Lauren Groff
Born (1978-07-23) July 23, 1978 (age 46)
Cooperstown, New York, U.S.
OccupationNovelist
EducationAmherst College (BA)
University of Wisconsin–Madison (MFA)
GenreLiterary fiction
RelativesSarah True (sister)
Website
www.laurengroff.com

Lauren Groff (born July 23, 1978) is an American novelist and short story writer. She has written five novels and two short story collections, including Fates and Furies (2015), Florida (2018), Matrix (2022), and The Vaster Wilds (2023).

She was named one of the 100 most influential people by TIME in 2024.[1]

Early life and education

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Groff, the second child of Jeannine and Gerald Groff, was born and raised in Cooperstown, New York.[2][3] She graduated from Amherst College and from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction.[4][5][6]

Career

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Groff's first novel, The Monsters of Templeton, was published by Hyperion on February 5, 2008, and debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list.[7] It was well received by Stephen King, who read it before publication and wrote an early review in Entertainment Weekly.[8] The novel was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers in 2008, and named one of the Best Books of 2008 by Amazon.com and the San Francisco Chronicle.[9][10][11]

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 called Templeton.

Groff's first collection of short stories, Delicate Edible Birds, was released in January 2009. It featured stories published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Five Points, Ploughshares, and the anthologies Best New American Voices 2008, Pushcart Prize XXXII, and The Best American Short Stories 2007, 2010, and 2014 editions.

Groff's second novel, Arcadia, was released in 2012[12] and 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,[13] The Washington Post,[14] and Miami Herald.[15] The novel was recognized as one of the Best Books of 2012 by The New York Times,[16] The Washington Post,[17] NPR,[18] Vogue,[19] The Globe and Mail,[20] The Christian Science Monitor,[21] and Kirkus Reviews.[22]

Her third novel, Fates and Furies, was released in 2015 and was also a New York Times and Booksense bestseller. Fates and Furies is a portrait of a 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,[23] the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction,[24] and was featured in numerous "Best of 2015" fiction lists, including the selection by Amazon.com as the Best Book of 2015.[25] President Barack Obama chose it as his favorite book of 2015.[26][2]

In 2017, Granta named Groff one of the Best of Young American Novelists of her generation.[27] In 2018, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction.[28]

Groff's fifth book, a short story collection titled Florida, was released in 2018. Florida was the winner of The Story Prize for short story collections published in 2018.[29] It was also a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction.[30][31] The Guardian called Groff's storytelling "a heroic pushback against the way we live now, against waste, against the artificial environments in which we find ourselves maintained by corporations, but equally against the pressures on women to be flawless, effortlessly excellent mothers, wives, sisters, lovers, friends, within this dire state of affairs."[32]

Groff's fourth novel, Matrix, was released in 2021. Matrix is about a "seventeen-year-old Marie de France... sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease."[33] The Observer called it "a strange and poetic piece of historical fiction set in a dreamlike abbey, the fictional biography of a 12th-century mystic."[34] Matrix was shortlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction[35] and the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.[36]

Groff's fifth novel, The Vaster Wilds, debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list in September 2023. The Vaster Wilds chronicles a servant girl's escape from a colonial settlement during the "starving time" of 1609.

In 2024, she opened a bookstore, The Lynx, in Gainesville, Florida.[37][38]

Personal life

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Groff is married and has two children and lives in Gainesville, Florida.[2] Her sister is the Olympic triathlete Sarah True.[39]

Bibliography

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Novels

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  • The Monsters of Templeton (William Heinemann, 2008, ISBN 0434017841)
  • Arcadia (Hachette, 2012, ISBN 1401340873)
  • Fates and Furies (William Heinemann, 2015, ISBN 1785150146)[40]
  • Matrix (William Heinemann, 2021, ISBN 9781785151903)[41][34][42]
  • The Vaster Wilds (Riverhead Books, 2023), ISBN 9780593418390.[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]

Short fiction

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Collections

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List of short stories

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Title Year First published Reprinted/collected Notes
L. Debard and Aliette 2006 The Atlantic Delicate Edible Birds and Other Stories [52]
Lucky Chow Fun 2006 Ploughshares Delicate Edible Birds and Other Stories
The Ballad of Sad Ophine Hobart
Elaborate Washington Square
Delicate Edible Birds 2009 Glimmer Train Delicate Edible Birds and Other Stories [53]
Above and Below 2011 The New Yorker Florida (2018) [54]
Amaranth 2013 Lucky Peach
Ghosts and empties 2015 Groff, Lauren (July 20, 2015). "Ghosts and empties". The New Yorker. Vol. 91, no. 20. pp. 60–63. Florida (2018)
The midnight zone 2016 Groff, Lauren (May 23, 2016). "The midnight zone". The New Yorker. Vol. 92, no. 15. pp. 68–73. Florida (2018)
Flower Hunters 2016 The New Yorker Florida (2018) [55]
Boca Raton 2018 Amazon Original Stories [56]
Brawler 2019 The New Yorker [57]
Birdie 2020 The Atlantic [58]
The Wind 2021 The New Yorker [59]
Annunciation 2022 The New Yorker [60]

Critical studies and reviews of Groff's work

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Florida

References

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  1. ^ "Lauren Groff: The 100 Most Influential People of 2024". TIME. 2024-04-17. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  2. ^ a b c "Lauren Groff: 'I often get very lonely because my job is very lonely'". the Guardian. 2021-09-11. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  3. ^ "Mother shares daughter's Olympic journey with students". Cooperstown Crier. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Groff, Lauren". Fresh Fiction.
  5. ^ "Groff, Lauren". Ploughshares.
  6. ^ "Lauren Groff '01 | Class of 2024 Honorees | Amherst College". www.amherst.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  7. ^ "New York Times Bestsellers". The New York Times. March 2, 2008. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  8. ^ "Harry Potter Fans, Break Out the Tissues". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 8, 2007.
  9. ^ "Orange Prize Shortlist". Orange Prize for Fiction.
  10. ^ "Amazon.com Best Books of 2008". Amazon.com.
  11. ^ "San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of 2008". San Francisco Chronicle. August 17, 2010.
  12. ^ Groff, Lauren (March 6, 2012). Arcadia. Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-4013-4087-2. Archived from the original on January 17, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
  13. ^ Wilwol, John (6 April 2012). "'Arcadia,' by Lauren Groff". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 June 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  14. ^ Charles, Ron (13 March 2012). "Lauren Groff's 'Arcadia': Trouble in paradise". Retrieved 11 June 2018 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  15. ^ "Lauren Groff recreates a paradise in 'Arcadia' - Books - MiamiHerald.com". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  16. ^ "100 Notable Books of 2012". The New York Times. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  17. ^ staff, The Washington Post (16 November 2012). "The 10 best books of 2012". Retrieved 11 June 2018 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  18. ^ "Best Books Of 2012: The Complete List". NPR. 24 December 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  19. ^ "Top Ten: The Best Books of 2012 - Culture - Vogue". Archived from the original on 2013-01-29. Retrieved 2013-02-17.
  20. ^ "The Globe's top 29 picks for international fiction of 2012". The Globe and Mail. 24 November 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  21. ^ "10 best books of 2012 – fiction". Christian Science Monitor. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  22. ^ "Best Fiction of 2012 - Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  23. ^ "National Book Award Nominees for 2015 (Fiction Category)". The New York Times. 17 September 2015.
  24. ^ "National Book Critics Circle Award Nominees for 2015 (Fiction Category)". Archived from the original on January 21, 2016.
  25. ^ "Amazon Unveils the Best Books of 2015". Business Wire. 11 November 2015.
  26. ^ "Kendrick Lamar Vs. Bruno Mars: POTUS and FLOTUS' Favorite Songs, Movies and Moments of 2015". Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  27. ^ "Granta 139: Best of Young American Novelists 3". Granta Magazine. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  28. ^ Groff, Lauren (April 1, 2018). "2018 Guggenheim Fellows". Guggenheim Foundation.
  29. ^ "Lauren Groff's 'Florida' wins $20,000 Story Prize". Star Tribune.
  30. ^ "The 2018 National Book Award finalists are in. Here's the full list". Vox. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  31. ^ Harris, Elizabeth A. (2023-09-09). "How Lauren Groff, One of 'Our Finest Living Writers,' Does Her Work". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  32. ^ Elkin, Lauren (2018-06-14). "Florida by Lauren Groff review – rage and refusal as Earth reaps the whirlwind". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  33. ^ "About Matrix". Penguin Random House. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  34. ^ a b "Matrix by Lauren Groff review – thrilling trip into the mystic". The Observer. 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  35. ^ "National Book Awards 2021 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 2021-10-06. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  36. ^ "2022 Winners". American Library Association. 17 October 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  37. ^ Alter, Alexandra (2024-05-10). "Book Bans Are Surging in Florida. So Lauren Groff Opened a Bookstore". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  38. ^ Andrew, Scottie (2024-05-02). "In Florida, a bestselling author is building a new community of literary resistance". CNN. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  39. ^ "Sarah Groff is One Tough Bird". TeamUSA.org. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  40. ^ Post-Dispatch, Joe Peschel Special to the (20 September 2015). "Lauren Groff offers stunning view of a long marriage". Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  41. ^ Puckett-Pope, Lauren (2021-04-01). "An Exclusive First Look at Lauren Groff's 'Matrix'". ELLE. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  42. ^ Briefly reviewed in the September 20, 2021 issue of The New Yorker, p.71.
  43. ^ Silcox, Beejay (2023-09-21). "The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff review – a survival story". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  44. ^ Mozley, Fiona (2023-09-08). "Lauren Groff's Latest Is a Lonely Novel of Hunger and Survival". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  45. ^ "Lauren Groff's next novel is set in the 17th-century American wilderness". Literary Hub. September 30, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  46. ^ "Lauren Groff Reveals the Cover of Her Upcoming Novel, 'The Vaster Wilds'". ELLE. March 29, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  47. ^ Kois, Dan (2023-09-12). "Why Lauren Groff Decided to Venture Into The Vaster Wilds". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  48. ^ Grady, Constance (2023-09-12). "The book of the year so far is Lauren Groff's The Vaster Wilds". Vox. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  49. ^ Starkey, David (2024-02-14). "Book Review | 'The Vaster Wilds' by Lauren Groff". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  50. ^ "Lauren Groff has a go bag and says so should you". npr.org. September 11, 2023.
  51. ^ Maury, Laurel (2009-03-09). "'Delicate' Stories In A Best-Friend-Forever Voice". NPR. Archived from the original on 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  52. ^ Groff, Lauren (2006-08-01). "L. DeBard and Aliette". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  53. ^ Groff, Lauren (Spring 2009). "Delicate Edible Birds". The Glimmer Train (70). Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  54. ^ Groff, Lauren. "Above And Below". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  55. ^ Groff, Lauren. "Flower Hunters". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  56. ^ Groff, Lauren (30 October 2018). "Boca Raton (Warmer collection)". Amazon. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  57. ^ Groff, Lauren. "Brawler". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  58. ^ Lauren Groff, January 14, 2020, The Atlantic, Birdie: A Short Story, Retrieved January 15, 2020
  59. ^ Groff, Lauren. "The Wind". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  60. ^ Groff, lauren (2022-02-02). ""Annunciation"". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 2022-02-14. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
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