Rivka Galchen

Rivka Galchen (born April 19, 1976) is a Canadian-American writer. Her first novel, Atmospheric Disturbances, was published in 2008 and was awarded the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. She is the author of five books and a contributor of journalism and essays to The New Yorker magazine.

Rivka Galchen
Galchen speaking at the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival.
Galchen speaking at the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival.
Born (1976-04-19) April 19, 1976
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OccupationWriter
NationalityCanadian, American
EducationPrinceton University (A.B.)
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (M.D.)
Columbia University (M.F.A.)
Notable worksAtmospheric Disturbances (2008)
Notable awardsWilliam J. Saroyan International Prize for Fiction

Early life

Galchen was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Israeli academics.[1] When she was in preschool, her parents relocated to the United States.[2] She grew up in Norman, Oklahoma, where her father, Tzvi Gal-chen, was a professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma and her mother was a computer programmer at the National Severe Storms Laboratory.[3][4]

Education

Galchen received her M.D. from Mount Sinai in 2003.[5] After medical school, she earned a MFA in 2006 from Columbia University, where she was a Robert Bingham fellow.[5]

Career

In 2006, Galchen received the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award for women writers.[5]

Her first novel, Atmospheric Disturbances, was published in May 2008.[6][7][8] The novel was a finalist for the Mercantile Library's 2008 John Sargent, Sr., First Novel Prize,[9] the Canadian Writers' Trust's 2008 Fiction Prize,[10] and the 2008 Governor General's Award.[11][12]

Galchen teaches writing at Columbia University.[13] In 2010, The New Yorker chose her as one of its "20 Under 40".[14]

Galchen served as the Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fiction Fellow for the Spring 2011 term at the American Academy in Berlin.[15] In 2015, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship.[16]

Galchen's short-story collection American Innovations was published in 2014.[17][18][19][20][21] It was longlisted for the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize[22] and received the Danuta Gleed Literary Award.[23] Each story is based on a well-known short story by another author, but switches the narrator from male to female and changes other elements.[1]

In 2016, Galchen published Little Labors, a book of essays about motherhood.[24]

In 2021, Galchen published her second novel, Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch.[25] The novel was shortlisted for the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.[26]

Galchen writes for several national magazines, including The New Yorker,[27] Harper's Magazine,[28] and the New York Times Magazine.[29] She contributes criticism and essays to The London Review of Books.[30]

Bibliography

Novels
  • Atmospheric disturbances. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2008.
  • Everyone knows your mother is a witch. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2021.
For children
  • Rat Rule 79. New York: Restless Books. 2019.

Short fiction
Collections
  • American innovations : stories. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2014.
Short stories
Title Year First published Reprinted/collected Notes
The region of unlikeness 2008 Galchen, Rivka (March 24, 2008). "The region of unlikeness". The New Yorker.
Wild berry blue 2008 Galchen, Rivka. "Wild berry blue". Open City. 25. Dave Eggers, ed. (2009). The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009. New York: Mariner.
Once an empire 2010 Galchen, Rivka (Feb 2010). "Once an empire". Harper's.
The lost order 2013 Galchen, Rivka (January 7, 2013). "The lost order". The New Yorker.
How can I help? 2016 Galchen, Rivka (September 19, 2016). "How can I help?". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on October 29, 2016. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
Usl at the stadium 2015 Galchen, Rivka (October 5, 2015). "Usl at the stadium". The New Yorker.
How I became a vet 2023 Galchen, Rivka (March 13, 2023). "How I became a vet". The New Yorker.

Nonfiction

———————

Notes
  1. Online version is titled "The mysterious disappearance of a revolutionary mathematician".

References
  1. Kellogg, Carolyn (2014-05-01). "Rivka Galchen talks about putting a female twist on iconic stories". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  2. "Heartbreak and loss lie beneath fantastic tale". The Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  3. "Rivka Galchen, M.D. from Oklahoma Is the Latest Successor to Pynchon". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on 2013-01-30. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
  5. "The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards 2006". Archived from the original on 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
  6. Schillinger, Liesl (July 13, 2008). "Book Review | 'Atmospheric Disturbances,' by Rivka Galchen" – via NYTimes.com.
  7. Wood, James (June 16, 2008). "She's Not Herself" – via www.newyorker.com.
  8. The novel features a character with her father's name, Tzvi Gal-Chen, a fictional professor of meteorology and a fellow of the fictional Royal Academy of Meteorology. See "She's Not Herself: A first novel about marriage and madness". The New Yorker. 16 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
  9. "2008 John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize Finalists". The Mercantile Library for Fiction. Archived from the original on 2008-05-31. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
  10. "2008 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Finalists". The Writers' Trust. Archived from the original on December 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
  11. "Rivka Galchen". Columbia University. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  12. "Past Winners and Finalists". Governor General’s Literary Awards. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  13. "Rivka Galchen". Columbia University. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  14. "Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie". The New Yorker. 2010-06-07. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  15. "Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fiction Fellow, Class of Spring 2011". American Academy in Berlin. Archived from the original on January 24, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
  16. "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Rivka Galchen".
  17. Kelly, Hillary (2014-05-06). ""American Innovations" by Rivka Galchen Reviewed". New Republic. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  18. Langer, Adam (May 7, 2014). "Short Stories That Riff Playfully on Some Enduring Forebears". The New York Times.
  19. Kirsch, Adam (May 8, 2014). "Rivka Galchen Is Not Your Mommy". Tablet.
  20. Gartner, Zsuzsi (May 16, 2014). "American Innovations: Canadian-born Rivka Galchen hits it out of the park again and again". The Globe and Mail.
  21. Cheuse, Alan (May 14, 2014). "Everyday Life Is a Rich Mine Of Absurdity In 'American Innovations'". NPR.
  22. "2014 Finalists". Scotia Bank Giller Prize. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  23. "Winners announced for the 2014 Danuta Gleed Literary Award". The Writer's Union of Canada. 25 May 2015. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  24. Ruhl, Sarah (2016-05-12). "'Little Labors,' by Rivka Galchen". New York Times. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
  25. Hillary Kelly, "Rivka Galchen’s Unsettling Powers". Vulture, June 7, 2021.
  26. Deborah Dundas, "‘May the force be with you’: Five finalists for the first Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize announced". Toronto Star, September 29, 2021.
  27. "Contributors – Rivka Galchen". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  28. "Rivka Galchen". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  29. McCarthy, Lauren (10 July 2020). "Contributors - Rivka Galchen". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
  30. "Contributors - Rivka Galchen". The London Review of Books. Retrieved 2021-08-28.

Interviews
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