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Irina Reyn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Irina Reyn
Born1974
Moscow, Russia
OccupationAssociate professor of English, University of Pittsburgh
Notable workWhat Happened to Anna K (2008)

Irina Reyn is a Russian-born American novelist and associate professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. Her novel, What Happened to Anna K., was selected as the tenth best fiction book of 2008 by Jennifer Reese of Entertainment Weekly,[1] and won the 2009 Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by emerging writers.

Formative years

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Born in Moscow, Russia in 1974, Reyn emigrated with her family when she was seven years old. After arriving in the United States, they made their home in Rego Park, Queens, New York City, New York. She was later awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree by Bennington College in Vermont, followed by a Master of Arts in Slavic Languages by the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania in 2001.[2][3]

Career

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The author of short stories early in her creative career, Reyn's first essay was published in 1999. Hired as a faculty member by the University of Pittsburgh in 2006, she was subsequently appointed by that university as an assistant professor of English and then promoted to associate professor. In 2007, she edited Living on the Edge of the World: New Jersey Writers Take on the Garden State. Her first novel, What Happened to Anna K, which was published in 2008 by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, was awarded the Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by the Foundation for Jewish Culture in 2009. Her second novel, The Imperial Wife, was released by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press/Macmillan Publishers in 2016. Mother Country, her third novel, was issued in 2019 by Thomas Dunne Books.[4][5]

She has also written articles for The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.[6][7]

Works

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  • What Happened to Anna K. (New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2008)[8]
  • Living on the Edge of the World: New Jersey Writers Take on the Garden State (editor) (New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2007)
  • The Imperial Wife: A Novel, (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2016)
  • Mother Country (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2019)

References

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  1. ^ "Best and Worst of 2008: Best Fiction". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2011-08-06. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
  2. ^ "Irina Reyn," in The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Newton, Massachusetts: Jewish Women's Archive, retrieved online June 5, 2024.
  3. ^ Coggins, Robyn K. "Women at Work," in Pitt Magazine. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh, retrieved online June 5, 2024.
  4. ^ "Irina Reyn," The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women.
  5. ^ Coggins, "Women at Work," Pitt Magazine.
  6. ^ Reyn, Irina. "What Happened After the Most Deadly Antisemitic Attack in American History?" New York, New York: The New York Times, October 27, 2021.
  7. ^ Reyn, Irina. "Op-Ed: My grandfather chose to speak only Ukrainian at the end." Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles Times, March 3, 2022.
  8. ^ The 50 best fiction, poetry books of 2008 | Page 3 of 3
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