Parul Sehgal
Parul Sehgal | |
|---|---|
 Sehgal at the 2015 PEN Literary Awards ceremony | |
| Born | 1981 (age 42–43) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Book critic, teacher |
Parul Sehgal (born c. 1981)[1] is an American literary critic. She worked as an editor at NPR and The New York Times Book Review, and later was one of the book critics at the New York Times. She was a staff writer at The New Yorker from 2021 to 2024.[2] In November 2024, she returned to the New York Times as critic-at-large.[3][4]
Early life and education
[edit]Sehgal was born circa 1981 in Northern Virginia, near Washington, D.C.[1] Her family moved frequently and, as a child she lived with her parents in Delhi, Manila, and Budapest before they returned to the United States and Northern Virginia.[1][5] Her parents and their families had become refugees during the Partition of India, migrating south into what is now India. Her father was born in Shimla where his family stopped on the way to Punjab. Her mother's family settled in Amritsar and Delhi.[1]
Sehgal studied political science as an undergraduate at McGill University in Montreal.[5] After graduating, she moved to Delhi, where she had extended family, to work at an NGO.[5] Deciding to change fields, Sehgal entered graduate school after returning to the US, and earned an MFA from Columbia University.[5] She has said this was the beginning of her creative writing.[1]
Career
[edit]Sehgal settled in New York City to pursue her interest in literature and criticism. She moved up to becoming books editor for NPR,[6] and a senior editor at Publishers Weekly.[5] In 2012, she became an editor at The New York Times Book Review.[7][8]
In July 2017, Sehgal joined the team of book critics established at The New York Times after the retirement of Michiko Kakutani, and served into 2021.[7] In 2021, she left to become a staff writer at The New Yorker.[9][10][11] In 2024, the New York Times announced that Sehgal was returning to the paper as a critic-at-large for their "Ideas" initiative, a weekly showcase of "ideas journalism" for the paper that began in summer 2024.[3]
Sehgal teaches in the graduate creative writing program at New York University.[2]
Awards and recognition
[edit]Sehgal received the 2010 National Book Critics Circle's Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing.[12][5][2] She won the 2008 Pan African Literary Forum's OneWorld Prize.[6] In 2021, she was recognized for her criticism by the New York Press Club.[2][13]
In 2023, Sehgal won the Silvers Prize for Literary Criticism. The judges wrote: "She exemplifies the virtues of subtlety, surprise, and above all, pleasure...from the smallest of units—the word, the phrase—to the largest: character, perspective, revelation."[14]
Personal life
[edit]In November 2017, Sehgal described herself as married with a child.[15]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Chew-Bose, Durga (November 23, 2017). "The Reading Life with Parul Sehgal, Book Critic at The New York Times". SSENSE. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
...in person, the 36-year-old critic...
- ^ a b c d New Yorker Staff and Sehgal, Parul (December 28, 2021). "Contributors: Parul Sehgal". The New Yorker. Retrieved December 28, 2021.[third-party source needed]
- ^ a b Silverstein, Jake; Strasser, Max (November 15, 2024). "The New York Times appoints a new critic to deepen its Ideas journalism". Editor and Publisher.
- ^ "A New Critic to Deepen Our Ideas Journalism". The New York Times Company. November 15, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f McLemee, Scott; Parul Sehgal (January 26, 2011). "Scott McLemee Interviews Balakian Recipient Parul Sehgal". BookCritics.org. National Book Critics Circle Board of Directors. Archived from the original on August 15, 2018.
- ^ a b "Parul Sehgal: How Does Envy Help Us Better Understand Ourselves?". NPR. February 6, 2015. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
- ^ a b Pompeo, Joe (July 27, 2017). "Michiko Kakutani, the Legendary Book Critic and the Most Feared Woman in Publishing, Is Stepping Down from The New York Times". Vanity Fair. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
- ^ "Parul Sehgal - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
- ^ "Parul Sehgal to Leave the 'Times' for the 'New Yorker'". PublishersWeekly.com. July 12, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
- ^ Bade, Rachael; Daniels, Eugene; Palmeri, Tara & Lizza, Ryan (July 13, 2021). "Playbook: 'Just say we won', WaPo duo goes inside the Trump White House on Election Day [Media Moves subsection]". Politico.com. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Parul Sehgal". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
- ^ Hoffert, Barbara (January 22, 2011). "The National Book Critics Circle Finalists for 2010 Awards". BookCritics.org. Archived from the original on July 5, 2011.
- ^ "New York Press Club Honors". The New York Times Company. July 26, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
- ^ "2023 Silvers-Dudley Prize Winners". The Robert B. Silvers Foundation. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
- ^ Sehgal, Parul (November 14, 2017). "My Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving Wins a Convert". The New York Times. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Parul Sehgal: An ode to envy, TED talk.