My review of Kristen Iskandrian's debut novel, Motherest, appeared in the August 27 edition of the New York Times Sunday Book Review.
THE VIRGINS in "100 Books Across America"
Literary Hub ran this piece recommending one fiction, one nonfiction, and one "famous" book for each state of the Union. I'm completely tickled that The Virgins was chosen as the fiction selection for New Hampshire. (My companions: KooKooLand by Gloria Norris for nonfiction, and the most certainly famous A Separate Peace.)
ELEVEN HOURS in Match Book (New York Times)
It was nice to see Eleven Hours show up in the Match Book column's recommendations to a reader who wanted "a good book to read in the last months of my first pregnancy"--nothing "patronizing" or "preaching" or that would leave her "despairing and enraged." And I applaud the columnist's inclusion in her answer of Elisa Albert's AFTER BIRTH, Rivka Galchen's LITTLE LABORS, and Louise Erdrich's THE BLUE JAY'S DANCE (which a dear friend in fact gave me during my first pregnancy)..
Maplewood Literary Award
Well, this was fun . . . .! (April 1, 2017)
ELEVEN HOURS in The Guardian
So pleased by this review of Eleven Hours by critic Lucy Scholes, coinciding with the paperback release in the UK. I enjoyed Scholes's comment that the novel displayed "audacity," as well as her description of it as "delightfully stomach-churning" (!). Not to mention this: "[Erens's] most impressive skill is the effortless way she transforms the commonplace into the captivating."
ELEVEN HOURS on Irish writers' list of Best Books of 2016
What a list of recommenders--I'm very pleased to be on this across-the-water list.
ELEVEN HOURS on Literary Hub's Best Books of 2016 list
I am a big fan of the LitHub site, so here's another list I'm very pleased about.
ELEVEN HOURS in The New Yorker's Books We Loved in 2016
Thrilled to lead off this list of favorite 2016 reads from The New Yorker's regular contributors. Plus, I'm a fan of Rebecca Mead's work.
ELEVEN HOURS on Signature's "10 Overlooked Books of 2016"
Happily, I can't claim to have been entirely overlooked with Eleven Hours this year--but if you wanna say I'm far from a household name, sure, I'll go there! I love this small, intimate list, particularly because a number of writers I personally know & greatly respect are on it, along with others I haven't met but who have really impressed me.
ELEVEN HOURS on NPR's Best Books of 2016 list
Am I thrilled? I am thrilled.
ELEVEN HOURS on Entropy's Best Fiction Books of 2016 list
A beautiful list, including, oh, Colson Whitehead, Zadie Smith, Ann Patchett, Joy Williams . . . and yours truly.
ELEVEN HOURS on Kirkus's Best Fiction of 2016 list
Best American Essays 2016
Woo-hoo! My essay Crave, for Virginia Quarterly Review, was listed in the "Notable Essays and Literary Nonfiction of 2015" section of Best American Essays 2016, edited by Jonathan Franzen.
BLOOM interview
Another interview, this time at Bloom, a site focusing on authors who published their first book after age forty. I converse with the wonderful Terry Hong; we touch on writing across gender/sexuality/race, etc.
MUTHA interview
A new interview about Eleven Hours is up at the terrific MUTHA magazine.
Maplewood Literary Award
I've been named the recipient of the 2017 Maplewood Literary Award, a prize given as part of the annual Ideas Festival taking place each March and April in Maplewood, NJ. Former recipients of the prize include Paul Auster and Dan Barry. As a long-time resident of the community and an enthusiastic user of the Maplewood Memorial Library, which sponsors the festival, I am especially delighted.
ELEVEN HOURS at the Huffington Post (again)
I seem to be getting some special love from the Huffington Post lately. First I was included in this list of "required reading": Colson Whitehead! Chang-Rae Lee! Eileen Myles! Karen Russell! Then they published their "Ultimate Feminist Back-to-School Reading List" and I am in that too: Joan Didion! Elena Ferrante! Helen Oyeyemi! Lynda Barry!
ELEVEN HOURS receives starred Library Journal review
Better late than never! "Beautiful and brutal, Pamela Erens’s (The Virgins) third novel is a revelatory meditation on relationships – between adults, lovers, friends, parents, and children of all ages. . . . Verdict: A quick, intense, and viscerally electrifying story . . . libraries should order immediately."
ELEVEN HOURS on the Not the Booker longlist
Sure, we'd all love to be on the Booker long list. But some of us are thrilled to be on the The Guardian's Not the Booker long list instead.
ELEVEN HOURS in the UK
Could I be more pleased? From the Sunday Herald (Scotland): "This is an immensely powerful, cannot-look-away novel of heart and bone and muscle and blood. The war novel has a rival, and it is breathtaking."