Evgenia Citkowitz
Evgenia Citkowitz (born Eugenia Citkowitz; 1964) is an American playwright, author and journalist.
Evgenia Citkowitz | |
---|---|
Born | Eugenia Citkowitz[1] 1964 (age 58–59) New York, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Playwright, author, journalist |
Years active | 2007–present |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Parents | |
Relatives |
|
Family | Guinness |
Website | evgeniacitkowitz |
Early life and family
Eugenia Citkowitz[1] was born in 1964 in the state of New York, the youngest of two daughters to Israel Citkowitz, an American pianist, composer and piano teacher, and Lady Caroline Blackwood, an English writer.[2] Her parents divorced in 1972, although her father continued to live nearby and helped raise her and her sisters until his death.[3] Citkowitz has four half-siblings.[4] Her stepfather was Robert Lowell, an American poet.[5]
Citkowitz attended a boarding school in Devon, South West England.[6] During her teenage years, she attended St Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith.[7] Citkowitz graduated with a degree in English literature from Oxford University.[8] She was educated, briefly, in the United States.[9]
Citkowitz grew up in London, England.[8] About her childhood, she said [she had a] "chaotic home life, lonely at times, although I met many interesting people."[5]
Family
Through her mother, Citkowitz is a member of the Guinness family, a prominent Irish and British family in brewing, banking and politics.[10] Citkowitz is an heiress to the Guinness beer fortune.[5]
Citkowitz's maternal grandparents were Maureen Constance Guinness, an Anglo-Irish socialite, and Basil Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 4th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, an English politician.[11] Her uncle and aunt were Sheridan Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 5th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, an English noble, and Lindy Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, an English conservationist, and Citkowitz's fifth cousin.
Career
Citkowitz's first book Ether was published in 2010, a collection of seven short stories and a novella.[12] Ether was picked as New York Times Editors' Choice and made it to The New Yorker's Book Club.[8]
Citkowitz's debut novel The Shades, a psychological thriller, was published on 19 June 2018. The Shades covers the impact of a daughter's death on a family as they try to move on with their grief.[13] Citkowitz stated that the purpose of the novel was to look into the "fragility of human existence" and the original story grew from the idea of "someone returning to their childhood home" that she then expanded upon. One of her primary focuses was to create characters that felt "authentic as people" in order to form empathy in the reader and also why she researched the intricacies of the fields and hobbies each of the characters practice in the novel, such as pottery.[14]
Citkowitz has written for various publications across the United Kingdom and the United States, including The Sunday Times, The London Magazine, The Guardian, The New York Times and Harper's Bazaar.[15]
Published works[16]
- Citkowitz, Evgenia (2010). Ether. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-29887-6.
- Citkowitz, Evgenia (2018). The Shades. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-25412-9.
Accolades
Citkowitz has previously been longlisted for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, and was one of the winners of The Word Factory's Neil Gaiman, Fables for a Modern World story competition.[9]
Personal life
Citkowitz keeps her personal life mostly private.[5] On 22 September 1990, Citkowitz married Julian Sands, an English actor;[17] after being introduced by John Malkovich. Sands disappeared in January 2023 during a hiking trip. His skeletal remains were found and identified in June 2023.[18] The couple have two daughters[19] and she is stepmother to a son from Sands' first marriage.[8] Since 1990, Citkowitz and her family have permanently resided in Los Angeles, California.[5][20]
References
- "Eugenia Citkowitz - Birthday, Birth Place, Zodiac Sign". bornglory.com. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
- Als, Hilton (July 30, 2010). "This Month's Author: Evgenia Citkowitz". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- Kimmelman, Michael (February 15, 1996). "Lady Caroline Blackwood, Wry Novelist, Is Dead at 64". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
- "Israel Citkowitz, 65, Dies; Composer, Piano Teacher". The New York Times. May 6, 1974. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
- "Evgenia Citkowitz | Aleim Magazine". aleim.com. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
- "Evgenia Citkowitz | Aleim Magazine". aleim.com. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
- "Blackwood's girls join the book club". Evening Standard. March 16, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Mustafa, Filiz (January 19, 2023). "Julian Sands shares two children with accomplished author Evgenia Citkowitz". HITC. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
- www.evgeniacitkowitz.com http://www.evgeniacitkowitz.com/about. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
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(help) - Essay by 2nd Lord Moyne, The Times 20 November 1959; (Online text in Eugenics Review, April 1960)
- Lowell, Ivana (April 10, 2012). "Ivana Lowell: I'm a survivor". Evening Standard. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
- Reviews for Ether:
- "Ether". Publishers Weekly. March 15, 2010. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- Mishan, Ligaya (May 27, 2010). "Fumblers and Dreamers". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
- Oates, Joyce Carol (July 15, 2010). "Unsparing Visions". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- McAlpin, Heller (April 23, 2010). "Ether: Seven Stories and a Novella". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- Maine, David (September 28, 2011). "'Ether', Like Its Namesake, Is Elegantly Crafted But Somewhat Removed". PopMatters. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- Laws, Karen (June 21, 2010). "Ether". The Rumpus. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- Strauss, Leah (April 15, 2010). "Ether". Booklist – via Ebscohost.
- Reviews for The Shades:
- Schama, Chloe (June 20, 2018). "Evgenia Citkowitz's New Novel Is a Dark, Cool Tonic for Blazing Summer Days". Vogue. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- Landis, Dylan (July 13, 2018). "In This Novel, a Mother Risks Everything for a Second Chance". The New York Times. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- Cheshire, Scott (July 18, 2018). "In 'The Shades,' a family is haunted by their daughter's death". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- "The Shades". Publishers Weekly. May 14, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- Schaub, Michael (July 3, 2018). "'The Shades' Is Both Psychological Study And Taut Thriller". NPR. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- Hartwell, Elena (June 19, 2018). "The Shades: A Novel". New York Journal of Books. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- Kastner, Julia (June 8, 2018). "Review: The Shades". Shelf Awareness. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- "The Shades". Kirkus Reviews. April 16, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- Lloyd, Alice B. (July 31, 2018). "Of Daughters, Death, and Big Old Houses". Washington Examiner. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- Evans, Alissa (January 14, 2019). "Author examines shades of grief, aftermath of tragedy in new book at Hammer Museum". Daily Bruin. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- "Who is Evgenia Citkowitz, The Shades author and actor Julian Sands's wife?". Opoyi. January 19, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
- "Books by Evgenia Citkowitz and Complete Book Reviews". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
- "Marriages: Sands - Citkowitz". The Daily Telegraph. September 25, 1990. Retrieved February 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- "'I didn't want to be a Hollywood actor': Julian Sands on controversy, fear and his best friend, John Malkovich". The Guardian. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
- bshilliday (January 24, 2023). "Meet Actor Julian Sands' Wife of Two Decades and His 3 Children". Closer Weekly. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
- Bashforth, Emily (January 28, 2023). "Julian Sands' hiking partner 'remaining hopeful' of actor's safe return". Retrieved February 19, 2023.