Meg Wolitzer (born May 28, 1959) is an American novelist, known for '' The Wife'', ''The Ten-Year Nap'', ''The Uncoupling,'' ''The Interestings'', and ''The Female Persuasion.'' She is a co-director of the BookEnds writing fellowship program at

Stony Brook Southampton Stony Brook Southampton is a campus location of Stony Brook University, located in Southampton, New York, between the Shinnecock Indian Reservation and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on the eastern end of Long Island. History Southampton Colleg ...

Life and career

Wolitzer was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and raised in

Syosset, New York Syosset is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place in the Oyster Bay (town), New York, Town of Oyster Bay, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state ...

, the daughter of novelist Hilma Wolitzer (née Liebman) and psychologist Morton Wolitzer. She was raised Jewish. Wolitzer studied creative writing at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

and graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 1981. She wrote her first novel, ''Sleepwalking'', a story of three college girls obsessed with poetry and death, while still an undergraduate; it was published in 1982. Her following books include ''Hidden Pictures'' (1986), ''This Is Your Life'' (1988), ''Surrender, Dorothy'' (1998), ''The Wife'' (2003), ''The Position'' (2005), ''The Ten-Year Nap'' (2008), ''The Uncoupling'' (2011), and ''The Interestings'' (2013). Her short story "Tea at the House" was featured in 1998's '' Best American Short Stories'' collection. Her novel for younger readers, ''The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman'', was published in 2011. She also co-authored, with Jesse Green, a book of cryptic crosswords, ''Nutcrackers: Devilishly Addictive Mind Twisters for the Insatiably Verbivorous'' (1991), and has written about the relative difficulty women writers face in gaining critical acclaim. She has taught creative writing at 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 ...

's Writers' Workshop,

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,700 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...

, and, most recently, was a guest artist 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 ...

. Over the past decade she has also taught at both

's MFA in Creative Writing program and the Southampton Writers Conference and the Florence Writers Workshop. Three films have been based on her work: '' This Is My Life'', scripted and directed by

Nora Ephron Nora Ephron ( ; May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing romantic comedy films and received numerous accolades including a British Academy Film Award as ...

; the 2006 made-for-television movie ''Surrender, Dorothy''; and the 2017 drama '' The Wife'', starring

Glenn Close Glenda Veronica Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. In a career spanning over five decades on Glenn Close on screen and stage, screen and stage, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Glenn Close, numerous ac ...

and

Jonathan Pryce Sir Jonathan Pryce (born John Price; 1 June 1947) is a Welsh actor. He is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He has received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards as well as nom ...

. ''The Uncoupling'' was the subject of the first coast-to-coast virtual book club discussion, via

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

. As of 2018, Wolitzer resides on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

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, with her husband, science writer Richard Panek.

Works

Novels

* ''Sleepwalking'' (1982) , * ''Hidden Pictures'' (1986) * ''This Is Your Life'' (1988) * ''Friends for Life'' 1994 , * ''Surrender, Dorothy'' (1998) * '' The Wife'' (2003) , * ''

The Position ''The Position: A Novel'' is a 2005 novel by American writer Meg Wolitzer. Summary It tells the story of a book titled ''Pleasuring: One Couple's Journey to Fulfillment'' and the effects it has on a family. The fictional book is a sex manua ...

'' (2005) * ''The Ten-Year Nap'' (2008) , * ''The Uncoupling'' (2011) , * ''The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman'' (2011) * ''The Interestings'' (2013) , * ''Belzhar'' (2014) , * ''The Female Persuasion'' (2018) , * ''To Night Owl from Dogfish'' (2019) Children's Books *Millions of Maxes (2022)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolitzer, Meg 1959 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American women short story writers People from Syosset, New York Brown University alumni Smith College alumni University of Houston faculty Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers Novelists from Texas Novelists from Iowa Writers from Brooklyn Jewish American novelists American women academics 21st-century American Jews