Elizabeth McCracken (born September 16, 1966) is an American author. She is a recipient of the PEN New England Award.

Life

McCracken, a graduate of the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

, was born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High School in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

, earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, an M.F.A. from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, 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 int ...

, and an M.S. in

Library Science Library and information science (LIS)Library and Information Sciences is the name used in the Dewey Decimal Classification for class 20 from the 18th edition (1971) to the 22nd edition (2003). are two interconnected disciplines that deal with info ...

from

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

. In 2008 and 2009, McCracken lived in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, where she was a fellow at the

Harvard Radcliffe Institute The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, is an institute of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts ...

. McCracken is the daughter of the late Samuel McCracken, a professor at Boston University and an assistant to long-time BU president John Silber; and Natalie Jacobson McCracken, a retired editor-in-chief for development and alumni publications at BU. She is married to the novelist Edward Carey. They have a son, August George Carey Harvey, and a daughter, Matilda Libby Mary Harvey; an earlier child died before birth, an experience that formed the basis of McCracken's memoir ''An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination''.

Career

McCracken holds the James Michener Chair of Fiction of the Michener Center for Writers at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. She and her husband were previously on the faculty of the

. She is the sister of former ''

PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online-only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tec ...

'' magazine

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

and founder of Technologizer.com

Harry McCracken Harry McCracken is a global technology editor for ''Fast Company'' and the founder of Technologizer, a website about personal technology. He was an editor at large for ''Time'', covering technology, from February 2012 to June 2014. McCracken is a ...

Ann Patchett Ann Patchett (born December 2, 1963) is an American author. She received the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction in the same year, for her novel ''Bel Canto (novel), Bel Canto''. Patchett's othe ...

, in an interview for ''Blackbird'' at

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

, mentions that Elizabeth McCracken is her editor, and is the only person to read her manuscripts as she is writing them.

Writing

In 2014, she published her first collection of stories in 20 years: ''Thunderstruck & Other Stories''. Among the nine stories is a tale about a successful documentary filmmaker who has to face a famous subject he manipulated and betrayed; one about a young scholar who is mourning his wife; and another about a grocery store manager who obsesses about a woman's disappearance
Sept 2014 in New York Times.
Her short story, "Hungry", was long-listed for the 2015 Sunday Times Short Story Award, the largest prize in the world for a single short story. On March 4, 2015, McCracken was named the winner of The Story Prize for ''Thunderstruck & Other Stories'' and received the top prize of $20,000. Her short story "The Souvenir Museum", originally published in ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'' in January 2021, was one of the 20 short stories selected (by

Andrew Sean Greer Andrew Sean Greer (born November 21, 1970) is an American novelist and short story writer. Greer received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel ''Less (novel), Less''. He is the author of ''The Story of a Marriage'', which ''The New ...

) for inclusion in '' The Best American Short Stories 2022''.

Awards and honors

*1996

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

finalist, ''The Giant's House''. *2002 L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award, ''Niagara Falls All Over Again''. *2014

longlist, '' Thunderstruck & Other Stories''. *2015

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 ...

for '' Thunderstruck & Other Stories''. *2015 Sunday Times Short Story Award shortlist for "Hungry" *2021 Sunday Times Short Story Award shortlist for ''The Irish Wedding''

Bibliography

*'' Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry'' (1993,

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

) – the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

listed this anthology on their "Notable Books for 1994" list *'' The Giant's House'' (1996,

Vintage In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...

/ Avon) – Granta Books included the excerpt ''The Giant of Cape Cod'' from ''The Giant's House'' in their collection ''Granta 54: Best of Young American Novelists'' *''Niagara Falls All Over Again'' (2001) *'' An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination'' (2008) *'' Thunderstruck'' (2014) *''Bowlaway'' (2018) *''The Souvenir Museum'' (2021) *''The Hero of This Book'' (2022)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCracken, Elizabeth 1966 births Living people Writers from Boston 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women short story writers American women novelists American women memoirists Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty Drexel University alumni 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers University of Texas at Austin faculty 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers Novelists from Texas Novelists from Massachusetts Novelists from Iowa Newton North High School alumni American women academics O. Henry Award winners