My Autobiography of Carson McCullers
Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in Nonfiction.
Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence.
Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence.
Cover design by Jakob Vala
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"An unpretentious, moving record of love at the margins."
-The New Yorker "The kind of state-of-the-form reckoning that makes one wish there were more like it." -Megan O'Grady, The New York Times Book Review “In lucid, distilled, honest prose, Jenn Shapland teaches us about McCullers, the desire for recognition, loneliness, the complexities of queer history, the seductions and resistances of the archive, and, all throughout, love.” - Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts "Gorgeous, symphonic, tender, and brilliant, My Autobiography of Carson McCullers is a monumental achievement. In this genre-bending work of nonfiction, Shapland brings the full weight of her intellect to bear on one of literature’s most important questions: How do queer readers find the truth―and themselves―between the lines?" -Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House |
Available anywhere books are sold, especially your local indie bookstore.
Bookshop.org / IndieBound / Amazon / Barnes & Noble
Also available as an audiobook narrated by the author.
Bookshop.org / IndieBound / Amazon / Barnes & Noble
Also available as an audiobook narrated by the author.
Reviews and Lists
National Book Foundation, "2020 National Book Award Finalist Nonfiction," September 2020
BookRiot, "10 Lyrical Memoirs that Will Enchant You," Aug 21, 2020
The New York Review of Books, Regina Marler, "A Connoisseur of Yearning" July 23, 2020
BookRiot, "The Best Books of 2020 So Far" July 23, 2020
The New Yorker, "Briefly Noted Book Reviews" June 1, 2020
Conde Nast Traveler, "The Books We’re Turning to Right Now: Women Who Travel Podcast" April 28, 2020
Broadsheet, Elissa Goldstein, "Coronavirus Comfort Reading: Books to Make You Feel Better During a Pandemic" April 16, 2020
LA Times, Jessica Ferri, "Queer authors reinvent the artist biography as revisionist memoir" April 10, 2020
BookRiot, Rebecca Hussey, "Five Great New Works of Innovative Nonfiction" April 10, 2020
Atlanta Journal Constitution, Candice Dyer, "A Coming Out Story for Two" April 10, 2020
Audiofile Magazine, Audiobook review March 2020
"Jenn Shapland's narration of her audiobook embodies a deeply personal journey...Her performance feels like an intimate podcast."
Buzzfeed News, Arianna Rebolini, "44 Books To Read Over Spring Break If Your Travel Plans Are Canceled," March 11, 2020
Harper's Bazaar, Keely Weiss, "14 LGBTQ+ Books to Look For in 2020," March 9, 2020
Women's Review of Books, Céillie Clark-Keane, "An Unfamiliar Species," March/April 2020
The New York Times, Megan O'Grady, "She Found Carson McCullers’s Love Letters. They Taught Her Something About Herself," February 4, 2020
Amazon.com Best Books of February: Biography and Memoir
Los Angeles Review of Books, Ellie Duke, "Rewriting McCullers," February 4, 2020
“At its core, Shapland’s book is about gaps — in stories, in language, in history, in ourselves — and how we attempt to fill them.”
Indy Week, Sarah Edwards, "How to Become Carson McCullers," February 4, 2020
The A.V. Club, Kelsey J. Waite, "An affecting new memoir frees Carson McCullers—and its writer—from the closet," February 3, 2020
Indiebound, IndieNext List, February 2020
Austin American Statesman, Joe Gross, "In My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, Jenn Shapland Sees Herself," January 30, 2020
Nashville Scene, Jane Marcellus, "Jenn Shapland’s Memoir Explores the Hidden Life of Carson McCullers" January 30, 2020
The A.V. Club, "5 New Books to Read in February" January 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews cover story, Linda Simon, "Jenn Shapland Claims Carson McCullers as a Queer Writer," January 27, 2020
Lit Hub, "Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2020" January 14, 2020
Autostraddle, Kate Gordon, "Jenn Shapland Names What Needs Naming in My Autobiography of Carson McCullers” January 7, 2020
“This book will change the way you think about the truth.…Shapland possesses the perfect storm of talents to push McCullers’s love life, and beautiful writing, into the light of this century during a moment when we need all the queer heroes we can get.”
Buzzfeed News, Arianna Rebolini and Tomi Obaro, "These Are Our Most Highly Anticipated Books Of 2020" January 7, 2020
Chicago Tribune, Laura Pearson, "10 books to read in winter 2020" January 2, 2020
Library Journal, review by Pam Kingsbury, January 1, 2020
The Rumpus, What to Read When 2020 Is Just Around the Corner, December 20, 2019
Forbes, Rachel Kramer Bussel, "The 10 Most Anticipated Books Of 2020, According To Independent Bookstores" December 9, 2019
Electric Literature, The 20 Most Anticipated Debuts of Early 2020, December 9, 2019
O, the Oprah Magazine, Michelle Hart, "31 LGBTQ Books That'll Change the Literary Landscape in 2020" December 5, 2019
Electric Literature "11 Highly Anticipated Queer Books Coming Out This Year," October 24, 2019
“This is a gorgeous, brilliant book that is all but guaranteed to resonate with queer folks, word nerds, and readers everywhere.”
Kirkus Reviews, Sept 29, 2019
“Shapland interweaves candid self-questioning and revealing personal stories with a nuanced portrait of a writer who confessed her loves were 'untouchable' and her feelings 'inarticulable.' A sensitive chronicle of a biographer's search for truth.”
BookRiot, "10 Lyrical Memoirs that Will Enchant You," Aug 21, 2020
The New York Review of Books, Regina Marler, "A Connoisseur of Yearning" July 23, 2020
BookRiot, "The Best Books of 2020 So Far" July 23, 2020
The New Yorker, "Briefly Noted Book Reviews" June 1, 2020
Conde Nast Traveler, "The Books We’re Turning to Right Now: Women Who Travel Podcast" April 28, 2020
Broadsheet, Elissa Goldstein, "Coronavirus Comfort Reading: Books to Make You Feel Better During a Pandemic" April 16, 2020
LA Times, Jessica Ferri, "Queer authors reinvent the artist biography as revisionist memoir" April 10, 2020
BookRiot, Rebecca Hussey, "Five Great New Works of Innovative Nonfiction" April 10, 2020
Atlanta Journal Constitution, Candice Dyer, "A Coming Out Story for Two" April 10, 2020
Audiofile Magazine, Audiobook review March 2020
"Jenn Shapland's narration of her audiobook embodies a deeply personal journey...Her performance feels like an intimate podcast."
Buzzfeed News, Arianna Rebolini, "44 Books To Read Over Spring Break If Your Travel Plans Are Canceled," March 11, 2020
Harper's Bazaar, Keely Weiss, "14 LGBTQ+ Books to Look For in 2020," March 9, 2020
Women's Review of Books, Céillie Clark-Keane, "An Unfamiliar Species," March/April 2020
The New York Times, Megan O'Grady, "She Found Carson McCullers’s Love Letters. They Taught Her Something About Herself," February 4, 2020
Amazon.com Best Books of February: Biography and Memoir
Los Angeles Review of Books, Ellie Duke, "Rewriting McCullers," February 4, 2020
“At its core, Shapland’s book is about gaps — in stories, in language, in history, in ourselves — and how we attempt to fill them.”
Indy Week, Sarah Edwards, "How to Become Carson McCullers," February 4, 2020
The A.V. Club, Kelsey J. Waite, "An affecting new memoir frees Carson McCullers—and its writer—from the closet," February 3, 2020
Indiebound, IndieNext List, February 2020
Austin American Statesman, Joe Gross, "In My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, Jenn Shapland Sees Herself," January 30, 2020
Nashville Scene, Jane Marcellus, "Jenn Shapland’s Memoir Explores the Hidden Life of Carson McCullers" January 30, 2020
The A.V. Club, "5 New Books to Read in February" January 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews cover story, Linda Simon, "Jenn Shapland Claims Carson McCullers as a Queer Writer," January 27, 2020
Lit Hub, "Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2020" January 14, 2020
Autostraddle, Kate Gordon, "Jenn Shapland Names What Needs Naming in My Autobiography of Carson McCullers” January 7, 2020
“This book will change the way you think about the truth.…Shapland possesses the perfect storm of talents to push McCullers’s love life, and beautiful writing, into the light of this century during a moment when we need all the queer heroes we can get.”
Buzzfeed News, Arianna Rebolini and Tomi Obaro, "These Are Our Most Highly Anticipated Books Of 2020" January 7, 2020
Chicago Tribune, Laura Pearson, "10 books to read in winter 2020" January 2, 2020
Library Journal, review by Pam Kingsbury, January 1, 2020
The Rumpus, What to Read When 2020 Is Just Around the Corner, December 20, 2019
Forbes, Rachel Kramer Bussel, "The 10 Most Anticipated Books Of 2020, According To Independent Bookstores" December 9, 2019
Electric Literature, The 20 Most Anticipated Debuts of Early 2020, December 9, 2019
O, the Oprah Magazine, Michelle Hart, "31 LGBTQ Books That'll Change the Literary Landscape in 2020" December 5, 2019
Electric Literature "11 Highly Anticipated Queer Books Coming Out This Year," October 24, 2019
“This is a gorgeous, brilliant book that is all but guaranteed to resonate with queer folks, word nerds, and readers everywhere.”
Kirkus Reviews, Sept 29, 2019
“Shapland interweaves candid self-questioning and revealing personal stories with a nuanced portrait of a writer who confessed her loves were 'untouchable' and her feelings 'inarticulable.' A sensitive chronicle of a biographer's search for truth.”
R.O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries: “You don’t have to be a Carson McCullers fan to admire this remarkable book. It’s a biography that’s also a memoir, a story of obsession and longing. Captivating and trenchant and moving, Shapland’s genre-mixing debut will stay with me a long time.”
-Melissa Febos, author of Abandon Me and Whip Smart: “You do not need to be a queer woman, a lover of Carson McCuller's fiction, or interested in the mysterious junctures between our own lives and those of our favorite artists to love this book, but for those of us who are those things, Jenn Shapland's memoir is a particular trove of delights. My favorite biographies are full of historical literary gossip and interested in the shadow selves of public persons. My favorite memoirs are those that scrutinize the self as an unreliable source of narrative truth and the one we must nonetheless rely upon. My Autobiography of Carson McCullers manages to do all of this in earnest and honest and riveting vignettes. It is a detective story and a dissection of selfhood, a puzzle every piece of which pleased me as it clicked into place.”
Ann Hood: “Jenn Shapland’s My Autobiography of Carson McCullers is indeed part autobiography, part criticism, part memoir, and 100% human, reminding us of how books and writers can take our hands and lead us to uncover the mystery of our hearts. I’ve never read a book quite like it.”
-Melissa Febos, author of Abandon Me and Whip Smart: “You do not need to be a queer woman, a lover of Carson McCuller's fiction, or interested in the mysterious junctures between our own lives and those of our favorite artists to love this book, but for those of us who are those things, Jenn Shapland's memoir is a particular trove of delights. My favorite biographies are full of historical literary gossip and interested in the shadow selves of public persons. My favorite memoirs are those that scrutinize the self as an unreliable source of narrative truth and the one we must nonetheless rely upon. My Autobiography of Carson McCullers manages to do all of this in earnest and honest and riveting vignettes. It is a detective story and a dissection of selfhood, a puzzle every piece of which pleased me as it clicked into place.”
Ann Hood: “Jenn Shapland’s My Autobiography of Carson McCullers is indeed part autobiography, part criticism, part memoir, and 100% human, reminding us of how books and writers can take our hands and lead us to uncover the mystery of our hearts. I’ve never read a book quite like it.”
Available anywhere books are sold, especially your local indie bookstore.
Bookshop.org / IndieBound / Powell’s / Amazon / Barnes & Noble
Also available as an audiobook narrated by the author.
Bookshop.org / IndieBound / Powell’s / Amazon / Barnes & Noble
Also available as an audiobook narrated by the author.
