Jennifer Haigh
Haigh at the 2016 Texas Book Festival
Haigh at the 2016 Texas Book Festival
Born (1968-10-16) October 16, 1968
Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationAuthor
NationalityAmerican
EducationDickinson College
Iowa Writers' Workshop (MFA)
GenreLiterary Fiction
Notable worksMrs. Kimble, Baker Towers, The Condition, Faith, News From Heaven

Jennifer Haigh (born October 16, 1968) is an American novelist and short story writer.

Life

She was born in Barnesboro, a Western Pennsylvania coal town 85 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Cambria County. She attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2002. Her fiction has been published in Granta, Ploughshares, Guernica, and many other publications, including The Best American Short Stories anthology. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction in 2018.[1] She lives in Boston.[2]

Writing career

Her 2003 debut novel Mrs. Kimble — telling the story of a mysterious con man named Ken Kimble through the eyes of his three wives – won the PEN/Hemingway Award for outstanding debut fiction.

Her next novel, Baker Towers (2005), depicts the rise and fall of a western Pennsylvania coal town in the years following World War II. It was a New York Times bestseller and won the 2006 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award award for best book by a New England writer.

Her third novel, The Condition, was published in July 2008. It traces the dissolution of a proper New England family when their only daughter is diagnosed with Turner's Syndrome, a chromosomal abnormality that keeps her from going through puberty.[3]

Her novel Faith (2011) tells the story of a suburban Boston priest accused of molesting a boy in his parish.[4]

Her short story "Paramour", published in the Winter 2011–12 issue of Ploughshares, was selected for inclusion in the Best American Short Stories anthology in 2012.[5]

In 2013, her short story collection News From Heaven revisited the town of Bakerton, Pennsylvania, and features encore appearances by several characters from the Baker Towers novel.[6]

Her novel Heat and Light (HarperCollins, 2016) explores the effects of natural gas fracking on a small Pennsylvania town, the fictional Bakerton. It was reviewed by The New York Times,[7] The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe,[8] Pittsburgh Post Gazette,[9] and National Public Radio.[10][11]

Bibliography

Novels

Short fiction

  • "Broken star". Granta. 103: 92–114. Autumn 2008.
  • News From Heaven (2013) story collection

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Notes
  1. ↑ Briefly reviewed in the April 25 & May 2, 2022 issue of The New Yorker, p.73.

Awards and honors

References

  1. 1 2 "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Jennifer Haigh". Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  2. ↑ "A Small Town Responds To Fracking In Jennifer Haigh's 'Heat & Light'". www.wbur.org. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  3. ↑ Maslin, Janet (July 21, 2008). "A Child With a Problem, a Family With an Excuse". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  4. ↑ Charles, Ron (May 11, 2011). "Books: Jennifer Haigh's 'Faith,' review by Ron Charles". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Ploughshares Awards". 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  6. ↑ Silber, Joan (May 10, 2013). "Things Haven't Gone Exactly as Planned". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  7. ↑ Maslin, Janet (April 27, 2016). "Review: With 'Heat and Light,' Jennifer Haigh Drills Below the Surface". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  8. ↑ "In 'Heat and Light,' Haigh explores fracking in familiar territory - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  9. ↑ "'Heat & Light': Jennifer Haigh returns to Bakerton, Pa., where fracking fractures families". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  10. ↑ "A Dying Coal Town Falls Into 'Fracking Frenzy' In 'Heat And Light'". NPR.org. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  11. ↑ "'Heat & Light' Digs For The Soul Of Coal Country". NPR.org. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
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