Kristen Roupenian

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Kristen Roupenian

Kristen Roupenian (* 1982 in Plymouth , MA ) is an American writer best known in 2017 for her short story "Cat Person".

life and work

Roupenian attended schools in Plymouth and the Prep School Falmouth Academy on Cape Cod . In 1998 she was a finalist in a student writing competition for USA Weekend magazine . She has two siblings, her mother now lives in Plymouth and her father in Alaska.

Roupenian studied English and Psychology at Barnard College , where she received her BA in 2003. She then spent two years in the Peace Corps , with whom she taught public health and HIV education in Kenya until 2005 . Upon her return to Boston , she worked as a nanny and laboratory assistant at Massachusetts General Hospital until Harvard University accepted her into the graduate program. There she did her doctorate in English literature. In her dissertation, completed in 2014, Roupenian examined postcolonial and transnational African literature using the example of a literary magazine from Kenya.

At the end of her doctoral studies at Harvard, Roupenian wrote a draft novel, but it was not published. Roupenian began her MFA degree in the Creative Writing program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor , where she was mentored by Laura Kasischke . In her thesis, she combined a horror story with psychological portraits. She graduated in April 2017, the same year she received one of the Hopwood Awards at the University of Michigan for her unpublished novel Look After Me .

In December 2017, Roupenian's short story "Cat Person" was published in New York . The story is about a short and ambivalent relationship between a 20-year-old student and a 34-year-old man that ends in a failed date . Then she separates from him, whereupon he turns out to be a misogynist and boredom. The story - published at the same time as the MeToo movement - was spread virally and widely discussed. Although it was only published in mid-December, it was the second most-read online article in the "New Yorker" in 2017. In December Roupenian received a contract for two books with Scout Press / Gallery, an imprint from Simon & Schuster . The contract for a short story anthology and a novel included a fee of more than a million dollars.

In March 2018, A24 acquired the rights to a horror script written by Roupenian called Bodies, Bodies, Bodies . In May 2018, HBO bought the film rights to the anthology You Know You Want This , which was released in January 2019. At the same time, translations into German and other languages ​​appeared - the book was published in 23 countries. The anthology contains twelve short stories, including "Cat Person". The work received a positive preliminary discussion in the Kirkus Reviews .

Roupenian was engaged to an MIT PhD student in 2014 . Since 2017 she has lived in Ann Arbor with a woman who also completed the MFA Creative Writing program at the University of Michigan.

Publications (selection)

  • Cat person . In: New Yorker Magazine , December 11, 2017 issue
  • The Good Guy , pre-release from You Know You Want This anthologyJanuary 3, 2019, on Medium
  • You know you want this . Gallery / Scout Press, New York 2019, ISBN 9781982101633 . (Anthology)
    • Cat person . Stories. Translated into German by Friederike Schilbach and Nella Beljan. Blumenbar Verlag, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-351-05057-3 .
  • Beißerin , pre-publication from the anthology Cat Person , published on January 13, 2019 on Spiegel Online

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ At the Aufbau-Verlag it is stated as 1982, at your Swedish publisher 1981. Other publications can also be found for both years of birth.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Meredith Goldstein: 'Cat Person' author's bad date story and her date with fame . In: The Boston Globe, December 30, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b Kristen Roupenian, PhD Candidate - Profile Page at the Department of English at Harvard University.
  4. ↑ March 2014 PhDs: Kristen Roupenian: "Dodging the Language Question: English, Politics, and the Life of a Kenyan Literary Magazine" . In: Harvard English Graduate Program, A Year in review 2013-2014 , p. 3. Summer 2014, Volume III.
  5. ↑ UM students receive Hopwood Awards for creative writing . Communication from the University of Michigan dated April 20, 2017.
  6. ↑ Tony Tulathimute: Kristen Roupenian's Power Dynamics . In: New Republic of January 8, 2019.
  7. ↑ a b Haley Mlotek: 'Cat Person' Author Kristen Roupenian's Stories Are Scary — And Scary-Real . In: Elle of December 19, 2018.
  8. ↑ Cat person author Kristen Roupenian lands seven-figure book deal US . In: The Guardian , according to an AP report on December 20, 2017.
  9. ↑ Review of You Know You Want This , Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1st, 2018.
  10. ↑ Kristen Carol Roupenian and Schuyler Senft-Grupp, of Cambridge, have announced Their commitment. . In: Wicked Local Plymouth, April 8, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Roupenian, Kristen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roupenian, Kristen Carol
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH Plymouth , MA