2020 book by Jenn Shapland
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers is a memoir by Jenn Shapland , published April 2, 2020 by Tin House Books . In 2021, the book won the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction,[ 1] the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir ,[ 2] and the Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award.[ 3] Along with being longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction ,[ 4] it was a finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction [ 5] and a Stonewall Book Award Honor Book.[ 6]
Reception
Reviews
Prior to publication, My Autobiography of Carson McCullers was named one of the most anticipated queer books of the year by Lit Hub ,[ 7] Buzzfeed ,[ 8] Forbes ,[ 9] Electric Literature ,[ 10] [ 11] and Oprah Magazine .[ 12]
Following publication, the book received positive reviews from Booklist ,[ 13] Kirkus Reviews ,[ 14] The New York Times Book Review ,[ 15] The A.V. Club ,[ 16] Los Angeles Review of Books ,[ 17] The Times ,[ 18] Full Stop ,[ 19] The New York Review of Books ,[ 20] The Georgia Review ,[ 21] Star Tribune ,[ 22] The Rumpus ,[ 23] Lambda Literary ,[ 24] Autostraddle ,[ 25] Library Journal ,[ 26] The New Yorker ,[ 27] and Open Letters Review .[ 28]
In various reviews, the book was called "revelatory",[ 29] "stimulating",[ 15] "gorgeous, brilliant", and "a moving record of love at the margins".[ 27] The New York Review of Books referred to it as "part fan letter, part detective story, and part steely corrective".[ 15]
The Los Angeles Times [ 30] and The New Republic [ 31] offered mixed reviews.
The Guardian 's Rachel Cook provided a poor review, saying, "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers , as its too-clever-by-half-sounding title implies, is neither memoir nor biography... such a declaration cannot disguise the fact that her (over) identification with McCullers takes us nowhere that is very productive."[ 32] In a similarly disappointed review, Publishers Weekly said, "Shapland’s intermingled autobiography and biography of McCullers’s life unsatisfyingly blurs what is real and what is imagined."[ 33]
Awards
References
^ a b "The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction" . The Publishing Triangle . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ a b Gentes, Brian (2021-06-02). "2021 Lambda Literary Award Winners Announced" . Lambda Literary . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ a b "Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards" . Phi Beta Kappa . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ a b Chapman, Monica (2021-02-02). "2021 Over the Rainbow Book List features 48 titles for adult readers" . American Library Association News and Press Center . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ a b "National Book Awards 2020 shortlists announced" . Books+Publishing . 7 October 2020. Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ a b Chapman, Monica (2021-02-02). "2021 Barbara Gittings Literature Award and Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award of the Stonewall Book Awards Announced" . American Library Association News and Press Center . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ "Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2020" . Literary Hub . 2020-01-14. Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Rebolini, Arianna (2020-01-07). "83 Books To Keep On Your Radar In 2020" . BuzzFeed News . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Bussel, Rachel Kramer (2019-12-19). "The 10 Most Anticipated Books Of 2020, According To Independent Bookstores" . Forbes . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Vitcavage, Adam (2019-12-09). "Get Ready for the 20 Most Anticipated Debuts of Early 2020" . Electric Literature . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Neilson, Sarah (2019-10-24). "11 Highly-Anticipated Queer Books Coming Out This Winter" . Electric Literature . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Hart, Michelle (2020-10-29). "These Are the 42 Must-Read LGBTQ Books of 2020" . Oprah Daily . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Bostrom, Annie (2020-01-01). My Autobiography of Carson McCullers . Retrieved 2022-01-10 – via Booklist.
^ "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers" . Kirkus Reviews . 2019-09-29. Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ a b c O’Grady, Megan (2020-02-04). "She Found Carson McCullers's Love Letters. They Taught Her Something About Herself" . The New York Times . ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Waite, Kelsey J. (2020-02-03). "An affecting new memoir frees Carson McCullers—and its writer—from the closet" . The A.V. Club . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Duke, Ellie (2020-02-04). "Rewriting McCullers" . Los Angeles Review of Books . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Reid, Melanie (2021-04-24). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland review — freed from the closet at last" . The Times . ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Martins, Julia Irion (2020-08-06). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers – Jenn Shapland" . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Marler, Regina (2021-05-02). "A Connoisseur of Yearning" . ISSN 0028-7504 . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Enszer, Julie R. (Fall 2020). "on My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland" . The Georgia Review . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Hewitt, Chris (2021-01-03). "REVIEW: 'My Autobiography of Carson McCullers,' by Jenn Shapland" . Star Tribune . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Possanza, Amelia (2020-04-22). "Queer Logic: Females and My Autobiography of Carson McCullers" . The Rumpus.net . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Neilson, Sarah (2020-02-05). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland" . Lambda Literary . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Gorton, Kate (2020-01-07). "Jenn Shapland Names What Needs Naming in "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers" " . Autostraddle . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Kingsbury, Pam (2020-01-01). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers" . Library Journal . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ a b "Briefly Noted Book Reviews" . The New Yorker . 2020-05-20. Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Joyner, Hannah (12 June 2020). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland" . Open Letters Review . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Shapl, Jenn (2019-12-20). "This Famous Author's Secret Love Letters Helped Me Realize Who I Am" . Oprah Daily . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ "Review: Queer authors reinvent the artist biography as revisionist memoir" . Los Angeles Times . 2020-04-10. Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Alam, Rumaan (2020-02-21). "Finding Carson McCullers" . The New Republic . ISSN 0028-6583 . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Cooke, Rachel (2021-05-02). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers review – identity parade" . the Guardian . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Shapland, Jenn (2020). Nonfiction Book Review: My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland. Tin House, $22.95 (288p) . National Geographic Books. ISBN 978-1-947793-28-6 . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers" . National Book Foundation . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ "2021 Winners" . Reference & User Services Association (RUSA) . 2020-10-18. Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ "Reading the West Book Award Winners" . Reading the West . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ "2021 Southern Book Prize Finalists" . Southern independent Booksellers Alliance . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .