Claire Vaye Watkins (born April 9, 1984) is an American author and academic. Her book of short stories '' Battleborn'' (Riverhead Books, 2012), won The Story Prize, among other awards. In 2012 the

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established with the goal "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: ...

named her a " 5 under 35" honoree. Of her parents' influence on her award-winning collection, Watkins has said, "My father's story is more in the collective subconscious but my mom's is closer to the project." In 2014 Watkins was the recipient of the

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

. Her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, '' Gold Fame Citrus,'' was published in 2015, and her second novel, ''I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness,'' was published in 2021. Watkins currently teaches creative writing at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

Life

Claire Vaye Watkins was born in

Bishop, California Bishop (formerly Bishop Creek) is the only incorporated city in Inyo County, California, United States. It is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley within the Mojave Desert, at an elevation of . The city was named after Bishop Creek ...

in 1984. She is the daughter of Martha Watkins, described by Claire as "this incredible dynamo, a great bullshitter", and Paul Watkins, a former member of the

Manson Family The Manson Family (known among its members as the Family) was a Intentional community, commune, gang, and cult led by criminal Charles Manson that was active in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The group at its peak consisted of a ...

and a close collaborator of

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...

. Claire Watkins was raised in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

, first in Tecopa, California and then across the state line in Pahrump,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. She received her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

and her

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

where she was a Presidential fellow. Watkins is currently a faculty member at the

, where she teaches creative writing. She is also on faculty at Bennington Writing Seminars, the M.F.A. program at

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932,

. Previously, she has taught as a visiting assistant professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, an assistant professor at

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

, and an assistant professor at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

's Helen Zell Writers' Program. Watkins and the writer Derek Palacio, who separated in 2018 and then divorced, have a daughter named Esmé.

Literary career

''Battleborn''

Watkins published '' Battleborn'', a collection of short stories, in 2012 with publishing house Riverhead.

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

reviewed her collection as being "brutally unsentimental," writing that "Watkins's characters wish to make sense of their pain, but also to be assured that they are not alone in it." ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' wrote that Watkins was within a genre entirely new: "Nevada Gothic".''Battleborn'' won many prizes, including The

Story Prize The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Eligible books must be written in English and first ...

, Dylan Thomas Prize, The New York Public Library

Young Lions Fiction Award The Young Lions Fiction Award is an annual US literary prize of $10,000, awarded to a writer who is 35 years old or younger for a novel or collection of short stories. The award was established in 2001 by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick ...

, The Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

, and The Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.

''Gold Fame Citrus''

''Gold Fame Citrus'', published in 2015 by Riverhead, is a surrealistic novel inspired by the Californian drought and by the lives of outcasts in the desert. It is Watkins' second book and first novel. The work received positive reviews. ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' called her debut novel, "enthralling," and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' praised Watkins' ability to render landscape as extraordinary. In the '' New York Times Sunday Book Review'', reviewer Emily St. John Mandel wrote that " great pleasure of the book is Watkins's fearlessness." The book received a starred review from Publishers Weekly which said it was "packed with persuasive detail, luminous writing, and a grasp of the history (popular, political, natural, and imagined) needed to tell a story that is original yet familiar, strange yet all too believable." A finalist for the

Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award __NOTOC__ The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award—named in honour of Frank O'Connor, who devoted much of his work to the form—was an international literary award presented for the best short story collection. It was presented betwe ...

and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, Watkins was also selected as one of the

's "5 Under 35."

"On Pandering"

Watkins critically questioned her own motives of publishing ''Battleborn'' in the 2016 Winter Issue of '' Tin House'' in her essay, "On Pandering," asserting that the book had unconsciously been written for the white male literary establishment aka the white supremacist patriarchy whose values she had internalized, and that only motherhood had delivered her from its burdensome claims. "The whole book's a pander." The essay, which observed that "misogyny is the water we swim in," appeared to critical reception and, according to the ''New Yorker'', was "discussed heatedly for weeks, even months, thereafter." ''Salon'''s Mary Elizabeth Williams called it a "must-read essay" and

Jia Tolentino Jia Angeli Carla Tolentino (born 1988) is an American writer and editor. A staff writer for ''The New Yorker,'' she previously worked as deputy editor of ''Jezebel'' and a contributing editor at '' The Hairpin''. Her writing has also appeared in ...

of Jezebel.com called it "unusually honest," suggesting "it will be talked about for quite some time." Originally, "On Pandering" was given as a lecture during the 2015 ''Tin House Summer Writers' Workshop.''

''I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness''

Watkins' second novel, ''I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness'', was published in 2021 by Riverhead. The novel, considered a work of

autofiction Autofiction is, in literary criticism, a form of fictionalized autobiography. Definition In autofiction, an author may decide to recount their life in the Third-person narrative, third person, to modify significant details and characters, use in ...

, was summarized in the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...

'' as being "...about a young mother refusing to conform to societal expectations, abandoning those who love her in search of herself." The novel is described as "fiercely committed to destroying the idea that personal mythology can be only true or false." ''I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness'' was a 2021 finalist for the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize, and the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Book Marks ''Literary Hub'' or ''LitHub'' is a daily literary website that was launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and '' Electric Literatur ...

, reported majority rave reviews. In their review of the work, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' describes Watkins as "the most riveting voice of the unsalvageable West."

Bibliography

Fiction

*'' Battleborn'' (Riverhead Books, 2012; ) *'' Gold Fame Citrus'' (Riverhead Books, 2015; ) *''I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness'' (Riverhead Books, 2021; )

Essays and reporting

* *

Awards and honors

*2012 NPR Best Short Stories of 2012 *2012

"5 Under 35" *2012

' Rosenthal Family Foundation Award winner ''Battleborn'' * * *2012 The Story Prize winner ''Battleborn'' * *2012

winner for ''Battleborn'' *2013 ALA RUSA Notable Book for Adults winner ''Battleborn'' *2013 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction longlist ''Battleborn'' *2013 Dylan Thomas Prize winner ''Battleborn'' *2013

shortlist ''Battleborn'' *2013 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize shortlist ''Battleborn'' *2021 ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize finalist for ''I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Claire Vaye 1984 births Living people 21st-century American women American short story writers American women academics American women short story writers The New Republic people Ohio State University alumni University of Michigan faculty University of Nevada, Reno alumni