Maureen Corrigan
Maureen Corrigan, book critic for NPR's Fresh Air, is The Nicky and Jamie Grant Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism at Georgetown University. She is an associate editor of and contributor to Mystery and Suspense Writers (Scribner) and the winner of the 1999 Edgar Award for Criticism, presented by the Mystery Writers of America. In 2019, Corrigan was awarded the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing by the National Book Critics Circle.
Corrigan served as a juror for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Her book So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came To Be and Why It Endures was published by Little, Brown in September 2014. Corrigan is represented by Trinity Ray at The Tuesday Lecture Agency: trinity@tuesdayagency.com
Corrigan's literary memoir, Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading! was published in 2005. Corrigan is also a reviewer and columnist for The Washington Post's Book World. In addition to serving on the advisory panel of The American Heritage Dictionary, she has chaired the Mystery and Suspense judges' panel of the Los Angeles TimesBook Prize.
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Leonardo Padura's new novel opens in 1939, when a ship carrying Jewish refugees is turned away from Cuba. Critic Maureen Corrigan says Heretics "spans and defies literary categories."
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A doctor is forced into secret medical service in Ayelet Gundar-Goshen's new novel. Maureen Corrigan calls it "a psychological suspense tale mashed with a social novel about the refugee crisis."
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The narrator of Vivek Shanbhag's new novel once lived a lower-class subsistence in Bangalore. Critic Maureen Corrigan says Ghachar Ghochar embodies the "fear of falling into economic and moral ruin."
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The acclaimed short-story writer sets his first novel in the cemetery where 11-year-old Willie Lincoln was buried. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Lincoln in the Bardo "searing, inventive and bizarre."
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Kevin Wilson's new novel is set on a state-of-the-art commune where children don't know who their biological parents are. Critic Maureen Corrigan says the book lives up to its title.
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Ayelet Waldman's new memoir describes her experiences with a variant of bipolar disorder, and her attempts to self-medicate with LSD. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls it a "gutsy ... really good story."
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A new collection of some of Fussell's most celebrated essays showcases the food and travel writer's tough-girl philosophy. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Eat, Live, Love, Die an inspiring work.
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Book critic Maureen Corrigan says that if there's one word that characterizes her list this year, it's "serious." These books certainly aren't grim or dull, but they take on big, difficult subjects. -
Chabon's new novel is a collection of stories in which a dying grandfather tells the secrets of his life to his grandson. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Moonglow "violent and very funny."
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Elkin, who died in 1995, was known for his satirical takes on American culture. Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews a new collection of essays that showcases the freshness of Elkin's work.
