Katherine Shonk
AUTHOR

Katherine Shonk

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Katherine Shonk is a fiction writer and editor who currently lives in Evanston, Illinois, her hometown. In 2010, Shonk published "Happy Now?" -- a tragicomic novel about a 30-something woman whose husband kills himself on Valentine's Day, less than two years into their marriage. Shonk is also the author of "The Red Passport," a collection of short stories based on her experiences living in Moscow during the mid-1990s. Shonk's writing has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2001 and literary journals such as Tin House, and she works long-distance for Harvard University as an editor. Her website is www.katherineshonk.com. Praise for Happy Now? ...[an] accomplished, moving first novel...The author...traces Claire’s odyssey from grief, guilt and rage to acceptance with such honesty and empathy, leavened by startling but bracing humor, that we hope for the best for her appealing protagonist—and for more novels from this talented writer. -- Wendy Smith, the Chicago Tribune What drives the story is the mystery of character... Happy Now? becomes a dark thriller as Claire, ready to face the truth, pursues it with desperation. -- the New York Times, Editor’s Choice ...Shonk’s...distinctive voice — the ironic, self-mocking sense of humor, the flair for capturing the ache of imperfect romantic love, the observation of quirky behavioral details, the starchy appraisal of flawed character, the telling sense of family dynamics — is once again on display. On the surface, [the] story might seem like fodder for a Lifetime television network drama or a women’s magazine story. But Shonk (the sort of writer Saul Bellow might have dubbed “a first-class noticer”) makes gold of it — invariably stripping away sentimentality and replacing it with the mix of caustic intelligence and biting wit of someone who feels things deeply but never loses the ability to step back a bit and see the dysfunctional theater of it all. -- Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
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