Michelle Huneven (born August 14, 1953) is an American novelist and journalist. Huneven was born and raised in

Altadena, California Altadena () ("Alta", Spanish language, Spanish for "Upper", and "dena" from Pasadena, California, Pasadena) is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in the Verdugo Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, approximately 14 ...

, where she returned to live in 2001. She received an MFA from the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative W ...

at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

and attended the Methodist

Claremont School of Theology Claremont School of Theology (CST) is an American graduate school focused on religion and theology and located in Claremont, California. CST is fully recognized and approved as one of thirteen official theological schools of the United Methodi ...

to become a UU minister, but she quit after two years to write novels.

Fiction

Huneven’s novels explore related themes of recovery and maturation. Her first novel, ''Round Rock'' (Knopf 1997), follows a graduate student's reluctant path to sobriety at a drunk farm in rural California. ''Jamesland'' (Knopf 2003) is set in the

Los Feliz LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

neighborhood of Los Angeles, where three struggling souls—a Unitarian minister, a descendant of

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

, and an erstwhile chef—help each other learn to get by. Both novels were designated "Notable Books of the Year" by ''

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 d ...

''. Her third novel, ''Blame'' (2009), was a finalist for the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

. Huneven's fifth novel, '' Search'' came out in April 2022 and tells the story of a Unitarian Universalist church's search for a new minister. The narrator is a restaurant reviewer and former seminarian, who joins the search committee in the interest of writing a memoir, ultimately called ''Search''. Huneven's short fiction has been published in ''Harper's'', ''Redbook'', and literary magazines. She received a Whiting Award in 2002.

Food writing and other nonfiction

Huneven has worked as a restaurant critic and food writer for the ''LA Weekly'' and the ''LA Times''. Her food journalism has also been published in ''The New York Times'', ''O'', ''Gourmet'','' Food and Wine'', and other publications. She won the 1995 award for Newspaper Feature Writing from the

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...

and several American Food Journalists awards."1995 Awards"
James Beard Foundation, accessed 25 July 2010 Huneven co-authored the ''Tao Gals’ Guide to Real Estate'' (Bloomsbury 2006), a combination narrative and guidebook for women purchasing homes. Her essays have appeared in the following anthologies: ''Horse People'', ''Dog is My Co-Pilot'', ''The Knitter's Gift'', ''Death by Pad Thai'', ''Mr. Wrong," and "Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed, sixteen writers on the decision not to have kids." She teaches creative writing at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

References

External links

Michelle Huneven's websiteProfile at The Whiting Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huneven, Michelle 1953 births Living people People from Altadena, California 20th-century American novelists Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty 21st-century American novelists Jewish American journalists American women novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Novelists from California James Beard Foundation Award winners American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews O. Henry Award winners American Unitarian Universalists

Fiction

Food writing and other nonfiction

References

Further reading

External links