Catherine Lacey (born April 9, 1985) is an American writer.

Career

Lacey's first novel, ''

Nobody Is Ever Missing "Nobody Is Ever Missing" is the tenth and final episode of the first season of the American satirical comedy-drama television series ''Succession''. It was written by series showrunner Jesse Armstrong and directed by Mark Mylod, and originall ...

'', was published by

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 P ...

Dwight Garner Dwight Garner (born January 8, 1965) is an American journalist and longtime writer and editor for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, he was named a book critic for the newspaper. He is the author of ''Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany'' and ...

, in ''

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 ...

'', called her prose "dreamy and fierce at the same time." '' Time Out'' named it "the (hands down) best book of the year." It also made ''

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 ...

''s list for the best books of 2014. It has been translated into Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, and German. The novel was a finalist for the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

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 ...

. In 2016, Lacey won a

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

for her fiction. In 2017 Lacey was named one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists. Her second novel, ''

The Answers ''The Answers'' is the first album by the American rock band Blue October. It was recorded in October 1997, at Sound Arts Studio in Houston, Texas. It was released in the United States, on January 3, 1998, by RoDan Entertainment/Scoop. It is B ...

'' (2017), was published by

. It received several positive reviews and comparisons to

Don DeLillo Donald Richard DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as consumerism, nuclear war, the complexities of language, art, televi ...

and

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

. In an interview with ''Vogue'', Lacey said, "Even the person who wrote ''Nobody Is Ever Missing'', I can’t really speak on her behalf anymore. The text is kind of what's left of that person, and that person doesn’t exist anymore. It both makes me very uncomfortable and very relaxed, because who you are and what you think that you’re attached to vanishes very quickly."

Lacey was a founding member of 3B, a cooperatively owned and operated bed and breakfast in downtown Brooklyn, where she lived as she wrote her first novel. In 2012, Lacey won an Artists' Fellowship from the

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

that she credits in giving her the financial freedom to finish ''Nobody Is Ever Missing''. Her 2020 novel, ''Pew'', was shortlisted for the 2021

Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published w ...

and won the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award. In 2023, she published her fourth novel '' Biography of X'', a fictional biography. The ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'' described it as a book that "thrillingly subverts the conventions of life-writing." ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' named it among "the 100 must-read books of 2023." It was shortlisted for the

in 2024. Her nonfiction/fiction hybrid work, titled ''The Möbius Book'', was released in June 2025. She has an upcoming second short story collection, ''My Stalkers.''

Personal life

In August 2015, she married actor and teacher Peter Musante; they divorced the next year. Lacey was partnered with writer Jesse Ball from 2016 to 2021. She has taught at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in the Writing Program at the School of the Arts. As of 2024, she is married to the writer

Daniel Saldaña París Daniel Saldaña París (born 1984) is a Mexican poet, essayist, and novelist. He gained acclaim for his debut novel ''En medio de extrañas víctimas'' and its follow-up ''El nervio principal'' (published in English by Charco Press and Coffee H ...

. https://open.substack.com/pub/catherinelacey/p/notes-on-reading

Bibliography

Novels

* * * *

Short fiction

Hybrid (memoir/novella)

Nonfiction

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacey, Catherine 21st-century American novelists Novelists from Mississippi Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Living people People from Tupelo, Mississippi 21st-century American women writers Columbia University faculty 1985 births Novelists from New York (state) American women academics American women novelists Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction winners