My Autobiography of Carson McCullers

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]

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

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

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

  1. "The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction". The Publishing Triangle. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  2. Gentes, Brian (2021-06-02). "2021 Lambda Literary Award Winners Announced". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  3. "Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards". Phi Beta Kappa. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  4. 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. "National Book Awards 2020 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  6. 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. 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. "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). 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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