Emily St. John Mandel

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Emily St John Mandel
Emily St. John Mandel 2015.JPG
Born1979 (age 41–42)
Comox, British Columbia, Canada[1]
OccupationAuthor
LanguageEnglish
NationalityCanadian
Alma materSchool of Toronto Dance Theatre
Notable awardsArthur C. Clarke Award
SpouseKevin Mandel[2]

Emily St. John Mandel (born 1979) is a Canadian novelist and essayist.[3] She has written numerous essays and five novels, including Station Eleven (2014) and The Glass Hotel (2020). Station Eleven is scheduled to be turned into a miniseries by HBO sometime in 2021.[4] The novel has been translated into 33 languages.[5] The Glass Hotel was translated into 20 languages and selected by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books from the year 2020.[6][7]

Life[]

Mandel was born in Merville, British Columbia, Canada to an American father.[8] She moved, with her parents and four siblings, to Denman Island off the west coast of British Columbia at age 10 where she was then raised.[9] She was home-schooled there until the age of 15, during which time she began writing daily in a diary, and left high school at 18 to study contemporary dance at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She then lived briefly in Montreal before relocating to New York City.[10][2]

Novels[]

Early Novels[]

Mandel's first three novels were titled Last Night in Montreal (2009), The Singer's Gun (2009), and The Lola Quartet (2012). Unbridled Books published all three.

Her debut, Last Night in Montreal follows a young woman with a secret who can't seem to settle in one city. When she's pursued by a private detective and a former lover, she's forced to come to terms with her own past and the secrets that haunt a childhood she can't remember.[11] The first chapter of the book can be read on Mandel's website.

The Singer's Gun tells Anton Waker's story, who grew up surrounded by corruption and has decided to live a more honorable life. Engaged and successful, his life unravels when his cousin blackmails him into doing one last job, his forged Harvard diploma is revealed, and his secretary disappears. Anton must choose between his loyalty to his family and his desire to live life with integrity.[12] The first chapter of the book can also be read on Mandel's website.

The Lola Quartet is a literary noir novel that takes place in Florida following the 2008 economic collapse. Gavin, a recently-fired journalist, and former jazz musician is contacted by his sister, who believes she discovered a daughter he never knew he had. Jobless, Gavin returns to his hometown and begins searching for his unknown child and the supposed mother—his high school girlfriend.[13] The first chapter of the novel can be found on Mandel's website.

Station Eleven[]

Mandel's fourth novel, Station Eleven, is a post-apocalyptic novel set in the near future in a world ravaged by the effects of a virus and follows a troupe of Shakespearian actors who travel from town to town around the Great Lakes region. It was nominated for the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction,[14] and won the Arthur C. Clarke Award[15] and the Toronto Book Award.[16] A film adaptation of the novel was developed by producer Scott Steindorff.[17] The resulting ten episode limited mini-series, Station Eleven, will be telecast by HBO Max in 2020/21.[18]

The Glass Hotel[]

Her fifth novel, a mystery thriller titled, The Glass Hotel, was shortlisted for the Giller Prize in 2020[19] and endorsed by Barack Obama when he released a list of his favorite books from 2020.[20][21]

In August of 2019, NBCUniversal International Studios acquired the rights to The Glass Hotel into a TV series.[22] The series would be produced by Lark Productions, and Mandel herself will write the screenplay.[23]

Other writing[]

Mandel wrote an article analysing in detail – using Goodreads' database of books – statistics relating to novels with titles in "The ___'s Daughter" pattern.[24] She wrote a subsequent article analysing statistics relating to novels that included the word "girl" in the title. One of her findings was that the girl is "significantly more likely to end up dead" if the author of the book is male.[25][26]

Personal life[]

Mandel lives in New York City with her husband, playwright and executive recruiter Kevin Mandel, and their daughter.[27]

Bibliography[]

Novels[]

  • Last Night in Montreal (2009)
  • The Singer's Gun (2010)
  • The Lola Quartet (2012)
  • Station Eleven (2014) ISBN 978-0-8041-7244-8
  • The Glass Hotel (2020)[28]

Essays[]

  • Emilie (2010) —— The Millions[29]
  • On Bad Reviews (2011) —— The Millions[30]
  • The Second Life of Irmgard Keun (2011) —— The Millions[31]
  • Irène Némirovsky, Suite Française, and The Mirador (2011) —— The Millions[32]
  • The ____'s Daughter (2012) —— The Millions[33]
  • Eating Dirt: On Charlotte Gill and the Life of the Treeplanter (2012) —— The Millions[34]
  • Susanna Moore, Cheryl Strayed, and the Place Where the Writers Work (2012) —— The Millions[35]
  • Strange Long Dream: Justin Cronin's The Twelve (2012) —— The Millions[36]
  • Drinking at the End of the World: Lars Iver's Exodus (2013) —— The Millions[37]
  • I Await the Devil's Friend Request: On Social Media and Mary MacLane (2013) —— The Millions[38]
  • The Bulldozing Powers of Cheap (2013) —— The Millions[39]
  • A Closed World: On By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept (2014) —— The Millions[40]
  • You'll Probably Never Catch Ebola - So Why is the Disease so Terrifying? (2014) —— The New Republic[41]
  • Susan Sontag, Essayist and So Much Else (2014) —— Humanities[42]
  • The Year of Numbered Rooms (2016) —— Humanities[43]
  • The Gone Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on the Train (2016) —— FiveThirtyEight[44]

Awards[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Emily St. John, Mandel (1979–)". ABC Bookworld. 2015. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Kirch, Claire (March 9, 2012). "Emily St. John Mandel: Once a Dancer, Now a Noir Phenom". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  3. ^ "Mandel, Emily St. John 1979– --" in Contemporary Authors, v. 301. Gale, 2010.
  4. ^ "Best-Seller 'Station Eleven' Acquired by 'Jane Got a Gun' Producer". The Hollywood Reporter. February 10, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  5. ^ "Emily St. John Mandel: Bio".
  6. ^ https://www.cbc.ca/books/barack-obama-names-canadian-novel-the-glass-hotel-by-emily-st-john-mandel-one-of-his-favourite-books-of-2020-1.5845643
  7. ^ "Emily St. John Mandel: Essays, etc".
  8. ^ "Emily St John Mandel Books In Publication & Chronological Order". Book Series. April 13, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  9. ^ "Emily St. John Mandel: Essays, etc".
  10. ^ Gayduk, Jane (May 7, 2020). "Emily St. John Mandel on Working Through Chaos". Sixtysix Magazine. Sixtysix Magazine. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  11. ^ "Emily St. John Mandel: Last Night in Montreal".
  12. ^ "Emily St. John Mandel: The Singer's Gun".
  13. ^ "Emily St. John Mandel: The Lola Quartet".
  14. ^ Review by S. Nunez, September 14, 2014, O.K., Now It's Time to Panic Emily St. John Mandel's 'Station Eleven,' a Flu Apocalypse New York Times Book Review, 119:37, Retrieved 25 August 2015
  15. ^ "Arthur C Clarke award goes to 'elegy for the hyper-globalised present'". The Guardian. London. May 6, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  16. ^ "Emily St. John Mandel wins 2015 Toronto Book Award". Toronto Star, October 15, 2015.
  17. ^ "Best-Seller 'Station Eleven' Acquired by 'Jane Got a Gun' Producer". The Hollywood Reporter. February 10, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  18. ^ "Station Eleven". IMDb. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  19. ^ "3 novels, 2 short story collections shortlisted for $100K Scotiabank Giller Prize". CBC Books, October 5, 2020.
  20. ^ "Emily St. John Mandel: Bio".
  21. ^ https://www.cbc.ca/books/barack-obama-names-canadian-novel-the-glass-hotel-by-emily-st-john-mandel-one-of-his-favourite-books-of-2020-1.5845643
  22. ^ "NBCUniversal International Studios to Adapt Emily St John Mandel's Mystery Novel 'The Glass Hotel' for TV". August 28, 2019.
  23. ^ "Emily St. John Mandel".
  24. ^ "The ___'s Daughter". Millions. March 28, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  25. ^ "The Gone Girl With The Dragon Tattoo On The Train". FiveThirtyEight, 27 Oct 2016. October 27, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  26. ^ "On the train, gone, or with a tattoo: what happens to all those 'Girls' in book titles?". the Guardian, 31 Oct 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
  27. ^ "Emily St. John Mandel: Bio". www.emilymandel.com. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  28. ^ "The Glass Hotel". Emily St. John Mandel. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  29. ^ "Emilie". April 19, 2010.
  30. ^ "On Bad Reviews". February 7, 2011.
  31. ^ "The Second Life of Irmgard Keun". July 22, 2011.
  32. ^ "Irène Némirovsky, Suite Française, and the Mirador". September 2, 2011.
  33. ^ "The ___'s Daughter". March 28, 2012.
  34. ^ "Eating Dirt: On Charlotte Gill and the Life of the Treeplanter". September 6, 2012.
  35. ^ "Susanna Moore, Cheryl Strayed, and the Place Where the Writers Work". October 4, 2012.
  36. ^ "Strange Long Dream: Justin Cronin's the Twelve". October 15, 2012.
  37. ^ "Drinking at the End of the World: Lars Iyer's Exodus". February 22, 2013.
  38. ^ "I Await the Devil's Friend Request: On Social Media and Mary MacLane". March 29, 2013.
  39. ^ "The Bulldozing Powers of Cheap". June 28, 2013.
  40. ^ "A Closed World: On by Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept". March 7, 2014.
  41. ^ Mandel, Emily St John (August 12, 2014). "You'll Probably Never Catch Ebola—So Why is the Disease So Terrifying?". The New Republic.
  42. ^ "Susan Sontag, Essayist and So Much else".
  43. ^ "The Year of Numbered Rooms".
  44. ^ "The Gone Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the Train". October 27, 2016.
  45. ^ Anders, Charlie Jane (May 6, 2015). "Station Eleven Wins This Year's Arthur C. Clarke Award!". io9. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  46. ^ Charles, Ron (October 15, 2014). "National Book Awards finalists announced". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  47. ^ Charles, Ron (March 10, 2015). "Emily St. John Mandel among finalists for PEN/Faulkner Prize". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  48. ^ "Baileys women's prize for fiction longlist – in pictures". the Guardian. March 10, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015.

External links[]


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