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My Autobiography of Carson McCullers

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My Autobiography of Carson McCullers
AuthorJenn Shapland
LanguageEnglish
GenreMemoir, Biography
PublishedFebruary 4, 2020
PublisherTin House Books
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (paperback, hardcover)
ISBN9781947793286

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

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Reviews

[edit]

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

[edit]
Year Award Result Ref.
2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction Finalist [5][34]
2021 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir Winner [2]
Stonewall Book Award Honor [6]
Publishing Triangle Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction Winner [1]
Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award Winner [3]
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Longlist [35]
Over the Rainbow Book List Top 10 [4]
Reading the West Book Award Honor [36]
Southern Book Prize Finalist [37]

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction". The Publishing Triangle. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  2. ^ a b Gentes, Brian (2021-06-02). "2021 Lambda Literary Award Winners Announced". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  3. ^ a b "Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards". Phi Beta Kappa. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b "National Book Awards 2020 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2020". Literary Hub. 2020-01-14. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  8. ^ Rebolini, Arianna (2020-01-07). "83 Books To Keep On Your Radar In 2020". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  9. ^ Bussel, Rachel Kramer (2019-12-19). "The 10 Most Anticipated Books Of 2020, According To Independent Bookstores". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  10. ^ Vitcavage, Adam (2019-12-09). "Get Ready for the 20 Most Anticipated Debuts of Early 2020". Electric Literature. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  11. ^ Neilson, Sarah (2019-10-24). "11 Highly-Anticipated Queer Books Coming Out This Winter". Electric Literature. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  12. ^ Hart, Michelle (2020-10-29). "These Are the 42 Must-Read LGBTQ Books of 2020". Oprah Daily. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  13. ^ Bostrom, Annie (2020-01-01). My Autobiography of Carson McCullers. Retrieved 2022-01-10 – via Booklist.
  14. ^ "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers". Kirkus Reviews. 2019-09-29. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ Duke, Ellie (2020-02-04). "Rewriting McCullers". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ Martins, Julia Irion (2020-08-06). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers – Jenn Shapland". Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  20. ^ Marler, Regina (2021-05-02). "A Connoisseur of Yearning". ISSN 0028-7504. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  21. ^ Enszer, Julie R. (Fall 2020). "on My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland". The Georgia Review. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  22. ^ Hewitt, Chris (2021-01-03). "REVIEW: 'My Autobiography of Carson McCullers,' by Jenn Shapland". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  23. ^ Possanza, Amelia (2020-04-22). "Queer Logic: Females and My Autobiography of Carson McCullers". The Rumpus.net. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  24. ^ Neilson, Sarah (2020-02-05). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  25. ^ Gorton, Kate (2020-01-07). "Jenn Shapland Names What Needs Naming in "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers"". Autostraddle. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  26. ^ Kingsbury, Pam (2020-01-01). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers". Library Journal. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  27. ^ a b "Briefly Noted Book Reviews". The New Yorker. 2020-05-20. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  28. ^ Joyner, Hannah (12 June 2020). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland". Open Letters Review. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  29. ^ Shapl, Jenn (2019-12-20). "This Famous Author's Secret Love Letters Helped Me Realize Who I Am". Oprah Daily. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  30. ^ "Review: Queer authors reinvent the artist biography as revisionist memoir". Los Angeles Times. 2020-04-10. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  31. ^ Alam, Rumaan (2020-02-21). "Finding Carson McCullers". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  32. ^ Cooke, Rachel (2021-05-02). "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers review – identity parade". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  33. ^ 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. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  34. ^ "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  35. ^ "2021 Winners". Reference & User Services Association (RUSA). 2020-10-18. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  36. ^ "Reading the West Book Award Winners". Reading the West. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  37. ^ "2021 Southern Book Prize Finalists". Southern independent Booksellers Alliance. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
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