Irina Reyn is a Russian-born American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and associate professor of English at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

. Her novel, ''What Happened to Anna K.'', was selected as the tenth best fiction book of 2008 by Jennifer Reese of

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

, and won the 2009 Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by emerging writers.

Formative years

Born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia in 1974, Reyn emigrated with her family when she was seven years old. After arriving in the United States, they made their home in

Rego Park, Queens Rego Park is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. Rego Park is bordered to the north by Elmhurst and Corona, to the east and south by Forest Hills, and to the west by Middle Village. Rego Park's boundaries include Queen ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. She was later awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree by

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

in Vermont, followed by a Master of Arts in Slavic Languages by the

in Pennsylvania in 2001.

Career

The author of short stories early in her creative career, Reyn's first essay was published in 1999. Hired as a faculty member by the University of Pittsburgh in 2006, she was subsequently appointed by that university as an assistant professor of English and then promoted to associate professor. In 2007, she edited ''Living on the Edge of the World: New Jersey Writers Take on the Garden State''. Her first novel, ''What Happened to Anna K'', which was published in 2008 by Touchstone/

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, was awarded the Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by the

Foundation for Jewish Culture The Foundation for Jewish Culture (formerly the National Foundation for Jewish Culture) was an advocacy group for Jewish cultural life and creativity in the United States. Founded in 1960, it supported writers, filmmakers, artists, composers, cho ...

in 2009. Her second novel, ''The Imperial Wife'', was released by

Thomas Dunne Books Thomas Dunne Books was an imprint of St. Martin's Press, which is a division of Macmillan Publishers. From 1986 until April 2020, it published popular trade fiction and nonfiction. History The imprint signed David Irving, a scholar, for a Joseph ...

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd in the United Kingdom and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC in the United States) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be on ...

in 2016. Mother Country, her third novel, was issued in 2019 by Thomas Dunne Books. She has also written articles for ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''.

Works

* '' What Happened to Anna K.'' (New York: Touchstone/

, 2008)The 50 best fiction, poetry books of 2008 , Page 3 of 3
/ref> * ''Living on the Edge of the World: New Jersey Writers Take on the Garden State'' (editor) (New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2007) * ''The Imperial Wife: A Novel'', (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2016) *''Mother Country'' (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reyn, Irina 1974 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Writers from Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh faculty American people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish Russian writers Jewish American novelists 21st-century American women writers Novelists from Pennsylvania Russian emigrants to the United States American women academics 21st-century American Jews