Claire Messud
(born 1966) is an American novelist. She is best-known as the author of the 2006 novel The Emperor's Children
.
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CLAIRE MESSUD TICKETS
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Background
Born in
Greenwich, Connecticut [1], Messud grew up in the
United States,
Australia and
Canada, returning to the United States as a teenager. Messud's mother is Canadian, her father of
French origin (from formerly-
French Algeria). The writer was educated at
Milton Academy,
Yale University, and
Cambridge, where she met her spouse, the British
critic James Wood. Messud also briefly attended the
MFA program at
Syracuse University.
Career
Her debut novel,
When The World Was Steady
(1995), was nominated for the
PEN/Faulkner Award. In 1999, she published her second book,
The Last Life
, about three generations of a French-
Algerian family. Her 2001 work,
The Hunters
, consists of two novellas. Her most recent novel,
The Emperor’s Children
, was longlisted for the 2006
Man Booker Prize. She wrote the novel while a fellow at the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in 2004-2005.
Honors
The
American Academy of Arts and Letters has recognized Messud's talent with both an Addison Metcalf Award and a Strauss Living Award. She was considered for the 2003
Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, although none of the three passports she holds is British .
Teaching
Messud has taught creative writing at
Kenyon College,
Amherst College, in the
Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers in
North Carolina, and in the Graduate Writing program at
The Johns Hopkins University. She is currently the writer-in-residence at
Tulane University.
Claire also taught at the
Sewanee: The University of the South in
Sewanee, Tennessee.
Each spring semester, starting in 2009, she will teach a literary traditions course as a part of
CUNY Hunter College's .
Personal
Messud is married to the British literary
critic James Wood. They live in Washington, DC, and Somerville, Massachusetts, with their two children.
References
- The New York Times, January 2, 2003 Thursday, Section E; Column 1; The Arts/Cultural Desk; Pg. 1, by Lawrence van Gelder