Sigrid Nunez (born 1951) is an American writer who is best known for her novels. Her seventh novel, '' The Friend'', won the 2018

National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987, the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, bu ...

. In 2025, Nunez was named as the recipient of a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize in the fiction category.

Biography

Sigrid Nunez was born and raised in

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 ...

, the daughter of a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

mother and a Chinese-Panamanian father. She received her BA from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

(1972) and her MFA from

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 ...

(1975), after which she worked for a time as an editorial assistant at ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

''. Nunez has published nine novels, including'' A Feather on the Breath of God,'' ''The Last of Her Kind,'' '' The Friend,'' '' What Are You Going Through,'' and, most recently, ''The Vulnerables.'' She is also the author of ''Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag.'' Among the journals to which Nunez has contributed are ''

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 ...

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 ...

,'' ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

Harper's ''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 ...

McSweeney's McSweeney's Publishing is an American nonprofit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. The executive director is Amanda Uhle. McSweeney's first publication was the literary journal'' Timothy McSw ...

, The Believer,

The Threepenny Review ''The Threepenny Review'' is an American literary magazine founded in 1980. It is published in Berkeley, California, by founding editor Wendy Lesser. Maintaining a quarterly schedule (March, June, September, December), it offers fiction, memoirs ...

,'' the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Book ...

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper (publisher), Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many su ...

,'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

.'' Her work has also appeared in several anthologies, including four

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

volumes and four anthologies of Asian-American literature. One of her short stories was selected for ''

The Best American Short Stories ''The Best American Short Stories'' is a yearly anthology that's part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the ''BASS'' has anthologized more than 2,000 short stories, including works by some of the ...

2019.'' Nunez, a Fellow of the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

, is also the recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award, a

Berlin Prize The Berlin Prize is a residential fellowship at the Hans Arnhold Center, awarded by the American Academy in Berlin to scholars and artists. Each year, about 20 fellows are selected. The stated mission of the program is to improve the transatlan ...

Fellowship, the

Rosenthal Foundation Award Lois Rosenthal (May 18, 1939 – July 20, 2014) was an American author, publisher, arts & humanities philanthropist, and community volunteer. She was based in Cincinnati, Ohio. She served on the boards of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Play ...

and the

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Recipients must be American citizens. Prizes have been aw ...

in Literature. Nunez is a member of 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 ...

. She was
James Merrill F
llow in December 2018–January 2019. She has taught at Columbia,

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

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 ...

, and the

New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers ...

, and has been a visiting writer or writer in residence at Amherst,

Smith Smith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England ** List of people ...

, Baruch, Vassar,

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

, and 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 ...

, among others. Nunez has also been on the faculty of the

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is an author's conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by ''The New Yorker'' "the oldest and most ...

and of several other writers' conferences across the country. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She lives in New York City. In 2024, two of her novels were adapted into films. The duo

Scott McGehee and David Siegel Scott McGehee and David Siegel are an American filmmaking duo. They have made films across different genres and styles, often focusing on emotional stories within a familial structure. They have shared a directing credit on every film since the ...

adapted her novel ''The Friend'' into a film starring

Naomi Watts Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. Known for her work predominantly in independent films with dark or tragic themes, she has received various accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, a Primetime ...

. Spanish filmmaker

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and author. His films are distinguished by Melodrama (film genre), melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular c ...

adapted ''What Are You Going Through'' into his English feature debut, '' The Room Next Door'', starring

Tilda Swinton Katherine Matilda Swinton (born 5 November 1960) is a British actress. She is known for playing eccentric and enigmatic characters, often working with auteurs. Her accolades include an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and a Volpi Cup, in addit ...

and

Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress and children's author. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent ...

. The latter was awarded the prestigious

Golden Lion The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...

at the

81st Venice International Film Festival The 81st annual Venice Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2024, at Venice Lido in Italy. French actress Isabelle Huppert served as Jury President for the main competition. Italian actress an ...

Book synopses

* In ''A Feather on the Breath of God'' (1995), "a young woman looks back to the world of her immigrant parents: a Chinese-Panamanian father and a German mother, who meet in postwar Germany and settle in New York City. Growing up in a housing project in the 1950s and 1960s, the narrator escapes into dreams inspired both by her parents' stories and by her own reading and, for a time, into the otherworldly life of ballet." ''

'' described Nunez's debut as "A forceful novel by a writer of uncommon talent." * ''Naked Sleeper'' (1996) is "a novel about the inescapable and sometimes unendurable complexities of love and the family drama," in which a woman falls into an extramarital affair and attempts to understand the father who abandoned her as a child. * ''Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury'' (1998) is a mock biography of a pet

marmoset The marmosets (), also known as zaris or sagoin, are twenty-two New World monkey species of the genera '' Callithrix'', '' Cebuella'', '' Callibella'', and ''Mico''. All four genera are part of the biological family Callitrichidae. The term ...

belonging to

Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English language, English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek wikt:Λέων#Greek, Λ ...

and

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

described ''Mitz'' as " wry, supremely intelligent literary gem about devotion." * ''For Rouenna'' (2001). "Now in her fourth and perhaps best novel to date—about a writer haunted by her brief friendship with a former

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

combat nurse—Nunez revisits familiar Proustian territory with a frightening rigor." * ''The Last of Her Kind'' (2006) follows the arc of a friendship between two women from different socioeconomic backgrounds who meet as roommates at

in 1968. Nunez has said that she wanted to write about the sixties by imagining the lives of "specific individuals who happened to come of age in that revolutionary time." Andrew O'Hehir called it "perhaps the finest ocial novelyet written about that peculiar generation of young Americans who believed their destiny was to shape history." * In ''Salvation City'' (2010), a thirteen-year-old boy is orphaned in a global

flu pandemic Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

and sent to live with an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

pastor and his wife. "''Salvation City'' is a story of love, betrayal, and forgiveness. It is about spiritual and moral growth, and the consolation of art."

Gary Shteyngart Gary Shteyngart ( ; born Igor Semyonovich Shteyngart on July 5, 1972)' is a Soviet-born American writer. He is the author of five novels (including ''Absurdistan'' and '' Super Sad True Love Story'') and a memoir. Much of his work is satirical ...

has said that the novel "makes one reconsider the ordering of our world." * ''Sempre Susan: A Memoir of

Susan Sontag Susan Lee Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, critic, and public intellectual. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on "Camp", Notes on 'Ca ...

'' (2011). In 1976, while recovering from surgery, Sontag hired Nunez to type her correspondence. Nunez began dating Sontag's son,

David Rieff David Rieff (; born September 28, 1952) is an American nonfiction writer and policy analyst. His books have focused on issues of immigration, international conflict, and humanitarianism. Biography Rieff is the only child of Susan Sontag, who w ...

, and moved into 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 ...

apartment that mother and son were sharing at the time. "This detailed, nuanced account of the more private side of a complex, contradictory public figure is told with even-handed good humor and more than a little compassion. Utterly absorbing." —

Lydia Davis Lydia Davis (born July 15, 1947) is an American short story writer, novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, who often writes very short stories. Davis has produced several new translations of French literary classics ...

* ''The Friend'' (2018). After her mentor and lifelong friend commits suicide, a writer inherits his

Great Dane The Great Dane is a German list of dog breeds, breed of large mastiff-sighthound, which descends from hunting dogs of the Middle Ages used to hunt bears, wild boar, and deer. They were also used as guardian dogs of German nobility. It is one o ...

. ''The Friend'' is both a "contemplation of writing and the loss of integrity in our literary life" and, in the words of

Cathleen Schine Cathleen Schine (born 1953) is an American novelist. Schine received her B.A. from Barnard College in 1975. Her first book was ''Alice in Bed'' (1983), which was followed by ''To the Birdhouse'' (1990), ''Rameau's Niece'' (1993), ''The Love L ...

, "the most original canine love story since
My Dog Tulip
'." It won the 2018

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. ...

and was a finalist for the 2019 Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize. ''The Friend'' was a ''

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 ...

'' bestseller. It was short listed for the 2020

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...

. In France, it was longlisted in the category of foreign fiction for the 2019

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or Verse (poetry), verse by male ...

and selected as a finalist for the 2019 Prix du Meilleure Livre Étranger. * ''What Are You Going Through'' (2020). A woman agrees to help a terminally ill friend by going away with her and seeing her through the last days of her life. The friend is planning to take a euthanasia drug rather than let cancer take its course. "It's as good as ''The Friend,'' if not better." — Dwight Garner * ''The Vulnerables'' (2023). A writer, old enough to be considered a "vulnerable" in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, pet-sits a spirited parrot named Eureka in her friends' luxury apartment. When the original petsitter, a Gen Z college student, returns to the apartment, he and the narrator strike up an unlikely friendship. "Her Wordsworthian exploration of 'how much of life is shaped by sadness for what's left behind,' her rare ability to be at once wistfully elegiac and sharply hilarious make ''The Vulnerables'' a gift."

Bibliography

Books

* * * * * * * * * *

Selected stories

*
"Imagination"
''The Sun'', April 2012.
"Philosophers"
''Conjunctions'': 58, Spring 2012.
"Worried Sisters"
''Harper's,'' September 2012.
"It Will Come Back to You"
''London Review of Books'', November 2021.
"Greensleeves"
''The New Yorker'', September 2024.

Selected essays

"Suddenly Susan"
(adaptation from ''Sempre Susan''). ''The New York Times'', February 25, 2011.
Love and Fiction
(excerpt from '' Little Star'' #4). littlestarjournal.com, December 12, 2012.
Shakespeare for Survivors
(review of ''Station Eleven,'' a novel, by Emily St. John Mandel). ''The New York Times Book Review,'' September 12, 2014.

(review of two memoirs: ''Afterglow'' by Eileen Myles and ''Fetch'' by Nicole J. Georges). ''The New York Times Book Review'', September 28, 2017. *
Sight' and The Pleasures of Overthinking Motherhood
(review of ''Sight'', a novel, by Jesse Greengrass). ''newyorker.com'', August 22, 2018.
Leonard Michaels Was a Cat Person
(introduction to ''A Cat,'' a novel, by Leonard Michaels). ''Paris Review Daily'', November 14, 2018.
"Sex and Sincerity"
(review of ''Cleanness,'' a novel, by Garth Greenwell). ''The New York Review of Books'', June 11, 2020.
"Disorders of the Heart"
(review of ''To Be a Man,'' a short story collection, by Nicole Krauss). ''The New York Review of Books,'' November 5, 2020.
Lost, at Sea, at Odds
(review of ''Whereabouts,'' a novel, by Jhumpa Lahiri, translated from the Italian by the author). ''The New York Review''. May 27, 2021.

''The New York Times Style Magazine'', July 13, 2022.
Gored in the Afternoon
(review of ''Getting Lost'', a novel, by Annie Ernaux, translated from the French by Alison L. Strayer). ''The New York Review''. November 3, 2022.

Film adaptations

* '' The Room Next Door'' (2024), based on the novel ''What Are You Going Through''. * '' The Friend'' (2024), based on the homonymous novel.

References

External links

*
Merle Rubin's review of ''The Last of Her Kind''
in ''The Wall Street Journal'', December 31, 2005.

in ''The New York Times'', February 5, 2018.
Laura Kipnis's review of ''The Friend''
''The New York Review of Books'', June 28, 2018.
"Reading from '' The Friend '' by Sigrid Nunez"
''YouTube'', November 16, 2018.
"Sigrid Nunez accepts the National Book Award for Fiction"
''YouTube'', November 15, 2018.
Interview with Scott Simon
on NPR's ''Weekend Edition'', November 24, 2018.

* ttps://www.npr.org/2019/01/24/688185092/the-friend-novelist-grapples-with-suicide-grief-and-student-teacher-relationship Interview with Terry Grosson ''Fresh Air'', January 24, 2019.
Dwight Garner's review of ''What Are You Going Through''
in ''The New York Times,'' August 31, 2020.
Merve Emre's review of ''What Are You Going Through''
in ''The New Yorker,'' September 7, 2020.
International Dublin Literary Award Shortlist podcast interview with Jessica Traynor
October 16, 2020.
Interview with Terry Gross
on ''Fresh Air'', October 21, 2020.
"Sigrid Nunez, The Art of Fiction No. 254"
''The Paris Review.'' Issue 240, Summer 2022.

in ''The New York Times'', October 30, 2023.

''The New York Times'', October 30, 2023.

''The New York Times'', December 10, 2023.
"Sigrid Nunez"
''The Sewanee Review''. September 23, 2024.
"Author Sigrid Nunez on Watching Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, and Naomi Watts Bring Her Characters to Life"
''Time'', September 7, 2024.
"Sigrid Nunez on The Room Next Door, The Friend, and Her Writing Process , NYFF62"
December 20, 2024. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunez, Sigrid 1951 births 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers American essayists American novelists of Chinese descent American people of German descent American people of Panamanian descent American women academics American women novelists American women short story writers American women writers of Chinese descent Amherst College faculty Barnard College alumni Columbia University faculty Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Living people MacDowell Colony fellows National Book Award winners Novelists from New York (state) Smith College faculty The New School faculty Writers from Manhattan