DANA SPIOTTA

ABOUT DANA SPIOTTA

Scribner published Dana Spiotta’s first novel, Lightning Field, in 2001. The New York Times called it “the debut of a wonderfully gifted writer with an uncanny feel for the absurdities and sadnesses of contemporary life, and an unerring ear for how people talk and try to cope today.” It was a New York Times Notable Book of the year, and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the West.

Her second novel, Eat the Document, was published in 2006 by Scribner. It was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award and a recipient of the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Michiko Kakutani wrote in her review in The New York Times that Eat The Document was “stunning” and described it as “a book that possesses the staccato ferocity of a Joan Didion essay and the razzle-dazzle language and the historical resonance of a Don DeLillo novel.”

Stone Arabia is Spiotta’s third novel. Scribner published it in 2011. Stone Arabia is a National Book Critics Award Finalist and a New York Times Notable Book of 2011. It was named a best book of 2011 by The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly and Salon.

Spiotta lives in Central New York with her daughter and husband. She teaches in the Syracuse University MFA program.