Wikipedia

Emma Cline

Emma Cline is an American writer and novelist from California.[3] She published her first novel, The Girls, in 2016, to positive reviews. The book was shortlisted for the John Leonard Prize from the National Book Critics Circle[4] and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.[5] Her story collection, Daddy, was published in 2020, and her second novel, The Guest, was published in 2023. Her stories have been published in The New Yorker, Tin House, Granta, and The Paris Review. In 2017, Cline was named one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists, and Forbes named her one of their "30 Under 30 in Media". She is a recipient of the Plimpton Prize and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Emma Cline
Cline in 2022
Cline in 2022
Bornc. 1989
Sonoma County, California, U.S.
OccupationAuthor, writer
EducationMiddlebury College
Columbia University (MFA)[1]
Notable worksThe Girls
Notable awards2014 Plimpton Prize[2]

Life and career

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Personal life

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Cline, born in 1989, was raised in Sonoma County, California.[6] She was the second of seven children in her family.[7] After graduating from Sonoma Academy, at age 16, Cline attended Middlebury College, where she studied art.[7] During her first year there, she won a writing award for her short story, "What is Lost".[3] After graduating, Cline attended Columbia University, where she received her MFA in 2013.[3] While at Columbia, she wrote "Marion,” a short piece of fiction, which was published by The Paris Review, in their 2013 summer issue. A year later, The Paris Review selected Cline to receive their annual Plimpton Prize for this same work.[8] Since then, her writing has been published in multiple journals.[9]

The Girls

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Cline speaks about The Girls in 2016

Cline's first novel, The Girls, was published in 2016 by Random House Publishing.[9] She was offered a $2 million advance by Random House, who outbid 11 other publishers for the novel.[10] American film producer Scott Rudin bought the film rights to the book, shortly before it was acquired by Random House.[11] The novel is based, in part, on the Charles Manson cult and murders of the late 1960s. The story is told from the view point of Evie Boyd, a fourteen-year-old girl, whose childhood is changed when she is introduced to a cult. As an adult, Evie reflects on her actions, as a child, bringing up questions of what it means to grow up as a girl and how injustice, in the world, can lead to terrible violence.[9] While Cline is celebrated for her descriptive abilities and attention to gender structures, critics have also said that the cult setting seemed unnecessary to the novel and left the ending feeling unfulfilled.[9] Still, the book was well received by the general public, and The Girls spent three months on The New York Times Best Seller list.[6] It won the 2016 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel.[12] The movie production for the novel is in the development stages.

Daddy

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Cline's short story collection, Daddy, was published in 2020 by Random House Publishing.[13] The New York Times called Cline "an astonishingly gifted stylist."[14]

The Guest

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In May 2023, an exclusive excerpt from Cline's second novel The Guest appeared in Vogue.[15] The book was published by Random House on May 16, 2023.[16] The New York Times wrote that the novel "could be read as an entertaining series of misguided shenanigans interrupting the upper class’s summer vacation, but under Cline’s command, every sentence as sharp as a scalpel, a woman toeing the line between welcome and unwelcome guest becomes a fully destabilizing force".[17] She has said that part of it was inspired by John Cheever's short story "The Swimmer."[18] The Guest was a national bestseller and was longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award.

Other endeavors

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Cline is the co-founder, along with Peter Mendelsund, of Picture Books, an imprint of Gagosian Gallery. They have published work by Ottessa Moshfegh, Joy Williams, Percival Everett, Lydia Millet and Sam Lipsyte.[19]

In February 2017, Cline's former boyfriend Chaz Reetz-Laiolo made plagiarism accusations against Cline that were ultimately dismissed by a judge. Reetz-Laiolo said Cline installed a spyware program on his computer in order to read his personal work and emails without his consent. He demanded reparations and threatened to put forth a public court filing that included sexually explicit images and text messages of Emma Cline.[6][20] Cline put forth a countersuit, arguing that the spyware was for her own protection because Reetz-Laiolo had been physically and emotionally abusive, and that the similarities between Reetz-Laito's work and The Girls was minimal.[20][6] Random House issued a statement in support of Cline.[6] In June 2018, the copyright claim was dismissed with prejudice by Judge William Orrick, who said, "Both stories are ‘coming of age’ tales of sorts. But they vary significantly in detail, breadth and texture" and called the behavior of Reetz-Laiolo's lawyers "remarkably offensive."[21]

Awards

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Bibliography

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Books

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  • The Girls. Random House. 2016. ISBN 978-0-8129-9860-3.
  • Daddy: Stories. Random House. 2020. ISBN 978-0-8129-9864-1.
  • The Guest. Random House. 2023. ISBN 978-0-8129-9862-7.

Short fiction

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Essays

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Anthology

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References

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  1. ^ "Recent Grad Emma Cline ('13) Nets Major Book Deal". Columbia University School of the Arts Writing Program. 29 October 2014. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  2. ^ "Emma Cline Wins Plimpton Prize; Ben Lerner Wins Terry Southern Prize". The Paris Review. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Kachka, Boris (9 October 2014). "13 Things to Know About Emma Cline and Her $2 Million Manson-Family Novel". Vulture. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  4. ^ "National Book Critics Circle: Announcing the #NBCCLeonard Award Finalists - Critical Mass Blog". bookcritics.org. Archived from the original on December 3, 2016. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  5. ^ "The Center for Fiction". centerforfiction.org. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  6. ^ a b c d e Alter, Alexandra (2017-12-01). "Sex, Plagiarism and Spyware. This Is Not Your Average Copyright Complaint". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  7. ^ a b Brockes, Emma (2023-05-13). "'I was a bad child actor. Extremely bad': Emma Cline on the follow up to her hit novel The Girls". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  8. ^ "Emma Cline Wins Plimpton Prize; Ben Lerner Wins Terry Southern Prize". The Paris Review. 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  9. ^ a b c d Wood, James (2016-05-30). "Cults and Carnage in the Summer of '69". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  10. ^ Williams, Wilda (15 June 2016). "Q&A". Library Journal. 141: 64 – via Academic Search Complete.
  11. ^ "13 Things to Know About Emma Cline and Her $2 Million Manson-Family Novel". Vulture. 2014-10-09. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
  12. ^ "2016 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners". The Shirley Jackson Awards. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  13. ^ "Daddy by Emma Cline: 9780812988048 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  14. ^ Taylor, Brandon (2020-09-01). "Emma Cline Knows First World Problems". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  15. ^ Cline, Emma (May 2023). "Read an Exclusive Excerpt from Emma Cline's New Novel". Vogue. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  16. ^ Veitch, Mara (16 May 2023). "Author Emma Cline on the Vision That Sparked Her Smoldering New Novel". Cultured. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  17. ^ Jacobs, Liska. "Emma Cline's Latest Heroine Is a Call Girl on the Run". The New York Times. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
  18. ^ Bonnet, Louise (16 May 2023). "Emma Cline Tells Louise Bonnet About Her Eerie Novel The Guest". Interview Magazine. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  19. ^ "Picture Books". Gagosian. 2021-11-15. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  20. ^ a b Kolhatkar, Sheelah (2017-12-01). "How the Lawyer David Boies Turned a Young Novelist's Sexual Past Against Her". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  21. ^ Flood, Alison (2018-07-03). "Emma Cline's ex-boyfriend's copyright claim dismissed". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  22. ^ Review, The Paris (2014-03-12). "Emma Cline Wins Plimpton Prize; Ben Lerner Wins Terry Southern Prize". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  23. ^ "2016 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners – The Shirley Jackson Awards". Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  24. ^ "Granta's list of the best young American novelists". The Guardian. 2017-04-26. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  25. ^ "Announcing the The[sic] Best Short Stories 2021". Literary Hub. 2021-04-20. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  26. ^ "Announcements – John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation…". 15 May 2024. Archived from the original on 15 May 2024.
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