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All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 482 ratings · 136 reviews

At the renowned writing school in Bonneville, every student is simultaneously terrified of and attracted to the charismatic and mysterious poet and professor Miranda Sturgis, whose high standards for art are both intimidating and inspiring. As two students, Roman and Bernard, strive to win her admiration, the lines between mentorship, friendship, and love are blurred.

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Hardcover, 208 pages

Published September 27th 2010 by W. W. Norton & Company

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Mar 23, 2011 Meryl rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

This novel shook me. I read the whole thing in one sitting, all night and into the morning. Paints very nuanced, and disturbingly accurate, portraits of the different motivations that can drive one to write poetry... and in the end none of them seem entirely worthwhile. The characters, each in their own way, willingly sacrifice everything for their art and live isolated, anxious and bleak lives. Meanwhile in their work, the protagonist especially, and all of them fundamentally, must recognize pe...more This novel shook me. I read the whole thing in one sitting, all night and into the morning. Paints very nuanced, and disturbingly accurate, portraits of the different motivations that can drive one to write poetry... and in the end none of them seem entirely worthwhile. The characters, each in their own way, willingly sacrifice everything for their art and live isolated, anxious and bleak lives. Meanwhile in their work, the protagonist especially, and all of them fundamentally, must recognize personal limitation and failure. The creation of an enduring work of art is an accidental pearl here in an ocean of misery and wasted effort.

As someone who wants to write poems, I need to set this book aside for a week or two, and then reread it and process it some more. I hope I'll have more to add at that point. I do think it's important reading material for anyone who has an MFA, or has contemplated getting one. But its messages are not comforting ones.

Last week I had brunch at a cafe that was displaying art by a self-taught painter. In her artist statement she had written "I paint almost everyday, because it makes me happy." Could a person who has been to graduate school write such a sentence? I want to believe that artistic development/education isn't a study in trauma, that a life spent making art isn't a predominantly gloomy one. But of course the history of poetry is riddled with suicides, poverty, addiction, and hardship... and Lan Samantha Chang's novel incorporates this history along with an intimate understanding of the beauty, flaws and foibles of the MFA system. A good book.

Edit: I have reread, and didn't find the book quite as gloomy the second time around. I felt closer to all of the characters upon encountering them again, and recognized nuances, lifted places, and even trickier, the value the book ascribes to the characters' wounds and woundings... Even Miranda, who I had little sympathy for at first, performs an important function in the lives of these students as the one person who will "tell you what you need to know" about your writing, without hesitation or mercy. More of the suffering seems worthwhile with this reading, and the portrait of a life spent writing poetry, whatever one's motivations, wasn't completely bleak. But this is not cheerful reading.(less)

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Jan 26, 2012 Steve rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: women, poets

This book was a real up and down for me. Not sure why she did not use Iowa City, given that she is the Director of the Writer's Workshop there. She does get the pettiness of the creative writing class down pat. My problem is with when she begins to write about the creative process, which is not an easy thing to do - and even harder when you do not provide us with examples of the characters' writing.
I picked this up expecting a bit more insight into the IWW, and a bit more on Bernard's poem on Ma...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm ambivalent. This is a beautifully written book. I had some issues with it, and I'm not sure if they were my issues or the book's issues. I was challenged by the decision to tell the story through the POV of a character who can only see others insofar as they may or may not temporarily ease his abandonment issues. It's gracefully and accurately done, but it also left me with a heartbreaking sense of the unknowability of the other characters, both for the protagonist and for me, seeing through...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am currently ruined by Jonathan Franzen, feeling that every novel, no matter how well written, is somehow only skimming the surface, where Freedom plumbs the depths. But on its own, and with its very lovely long title, All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost (AIFNIL) is a good read. Chang's writing workshop dialogues were painfully familiar, as were the characters' searches to find meaning and purpose in their desires to write. AIFNIL's feat is that it tells the story of people wanting to write -- a...more

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Feb 12, 2011 Peter rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was an absorbing read for me, completed in a couple of sittings. And more than anything else, I admired the prose. Maybe it's because I've been reading a lot of long cram-in-all-the-#$%ing-wonder-of-life sentence writers lately, but the spare elegantly-crafted lines came as a refreshing surprise. I really felt like I was disappearing into the text, and emerging only when each section was finished.

The story, on the other hand, seemed a touch too refined for my taste. I appreciated the subtl...more

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Dec 31, 2010 Cheryl Gatling added it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is a book about poets in an MFA program. In a way it's like a novel that takes place in another country, with aspects of another culture observed: the culture of workshops, journals, readings, grants, prizes, interviews, the demands of teaching. The characters ask each other some of the philosophical questions that poets ask: Why write poetry anyway? What kind of feedback is helpful? Do you have an ideal reader? Can writing be taught? Can poets become better poets? The story that unfolds wi...more

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Nov 05, 2010 Vicki rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-books, novels

Elegant, poignant, restrained. I have what I suspect is an obnoxious mild distaste for writers from writing programs - MFA or Iowa Writers Workshop, my mild distaste makes no distinction. It's not that I don't think writing is a craft, or that it can be taught, or that it's worthy of study. It's just that ... well, it seems from the outside like it's a conduit to the publishing industry, and I abhor networking and "connections." I guess my Platonic ideal of a writer is one who has all of the tal...more Elegant, poignant, restrained. I have what I suspect is an obnoxious mild distaste for writers from writing programs - MFA or Iowa Writers Workshop, my mild distaste makes no distinction. It's not that I don't think writing is a craft, or that it can be taught, or that it's worthy of study. It's just that ... well, it seems from the outside like it's a conduit to the publishing industry, and I abhor networking and "connections." I guess my Platonic ideal of a writer is one who has all of the talent and is willing to just write the book that they want to write, take their chances with the manuscript, and hope for discovery. What makes that obnoxious is that 1) there's no reason to believe that "trained" writers don't fit these criteria, and 2) training is not a fast-track to publishing; plenty of people graduate from MFA programs and writing workshops and go on to toil in obscurity with just as pure a devotion to their art as I could ever demand from a stranger. This is all background so that I can say that books like these - methodical, well-paced, but still emotionally deep - make me realize that there's nothing wrong with being a good writer who is also well-trained. ETA: I just realized that the thing I find most irritating about writing programs is that people keep "writing what [they] know" and as more and more published authors are the product of writing classes and several years spent surrounded by other writers, I am trapped as a reader in this ever-shrinking pool of novel topics. A solid third of the novels I've read in the last year have been about writing a novel, a writer's life, or even writing school. This is boring.

The premise of this book – an affair between a poetry teacher and graduate student – wasn’t particularly appealing to me. And sure enough, I found the first third of the book, which focused on the affair, to be the least interesting. But through the rest of the book I found myself increasingly invested in the characters, and very impressed by the writing. The story sets a fast pace – 204 pages to cover 20 some-odd years – but each sentence is so measured and thoughtful that the tone feels almost elegiac and the years slip by with unexpected swiftness.

From near the end:

He understood that he had, mysteriously and without consenting, reached a point in his life where such newness was gone from it; and he understood that it would not return. For no matter how many trips Roman made—to Berlin, to Rome, to Mexico City—he did not escape a life in which a world had ended, a life which he had survived alone, and from which he was now excluded. Something he had been waiting for, some powerful transcendence for which he had held his breath, would not take place. When had this opportunity for transcendence passed? Had he even paid attention?
(less)

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Sep 11, 2010 Dlmoore83 Moore rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry-and-prose

The cover led this book into my hands several times in the bookstore. Then a book club I belong to announced it as their September selection with a discussion with Lan Samantha Chang later in the month. Not wanting to be left behind, I quickly picked up my copy and began.

At first, it appeared to be a somewhat short, quick read. As i turned the first few pages, I soon realized it was much much more. Short in pages? maybe. Short on character, life commonalities and shared philosophical questions?...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Ljuneosborne rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had an interesting experience reading this book. In the beginning I had doubts, as it seemed to be set up as a modern romance, and I wasn't sure if there would be anything else to the story. But that was just part one. Even in the beginning, the way Chang uses words caught me off guard at times. Words are strung together in charming ways, and I found myself re-reading sentences and smiling. This is a story of people whose lives revolve around poetry, told in delicate prose.

As the story progres...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, fiction

When the author of the novel you're about to pick up is the director of the famed Iowa Writer's Workshop, you expect great things.

Fortunately, that's what you get with All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost.

This short, almost novella-length book was one that I saw on my library's New Books shelf, and I was intrigued by the title and Ms. Chang's credentials. (I confess, I have often wondered what it would be like to be a student at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. Some people dream of fame and stardom. I...more When the author of the novel you're about to pick up is the director of the famed Iowa Writer's Workshop, you expect great things.

Fortunately, that's what you get with All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost.

This short, almost novella-length book was one that I saw on my library's New Books shelf, and I was intrigued by the title and Ms. Chang's credentials. (I confess, I have often wondered what it would be like to be a student at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. Some people dream of fame and stardom. I dream of Iowa City.) Anyway, this was the rare book that I hadn't heard much buzz about among book bloggers or anyplace else, and I kind of liked the idea that I might discover a little gem to tell you about.

I'll admit that the premise - as described on the jacket cover - didn't strike me as overly original, but the story started growing on me fairly quickly.

At the renowned writing school in Bonneville, every student is simultaneously terrified of and attracted to the charismatic and mysterious poet and professor Miranda Sturgis, whose high standards for art are both intimidating and inspiring. As two students, Roman and Bernard, strive to win her admiration, the lines between mentorship, friendship, and love are blurred.

Yeah, we can tell where this is going, can't we?

Roman and Bernard are both students in Miranda's poetry seminar, as is Lucy. Over the next 30 years, all four of their lives will continue to intersect, even as their careers go in different directions, and their friendship and allegiances will be tested.

One of my favorite quotes from All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost is this:

"The people who matter the most to us in the end , who teach us the most, are the people who make their worst mistakes with us." (pg. 133)

I think the opposite is true, too. I think we make our worst mistakes with the people who matter most to us. That's definitely the case with the characters in this novel.

I'm really glad that I gave this one a chance. There are several moments of surprise, of slight twists that I wasn't expecting, and the last dozen pages or so are reminiscent of the Six Feet Under series finale. (If you are/were a fan of the show, you know what I mean.) The prose is tight and the pacing is such that the narrative just flows almost effortlessly, making it a quick read. (I read this over the course of one day, starting at lunchtime and then finished it up in the evening. This would be a perfect Read-a-thon book.)

Overall, All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost is a nicely-written character-driven book that makes one think about how much credit we owe those who have influenced our success and the intangible currency that we all use to pay the price.(less)

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Dec 18, 2010 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jackie by: Lynette

Shelves: poetry, unrequited-love

Three things:
--Ah, writing about writing. So easy to do poorly, so difficult to do well. This book wriggles through and past the usual obstacles to come uncomfortably close to success. Why uncomfortable? There were some things about Miranda that reminded me of one of my own undergrad creative writing teachers who is notorious for picking favorites, crushing spirits, and having people sign up in droves for her classes. So that was not so personally wonderful.
--To me, the best thing about this boo...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Christine Ward rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club, new-to-me

I described this book in my book club as being "strangely compelling". This is because the story focuses on Roman Morris, a poet, his poetry mentor, Miranda Sturgis, and Morris's friend/polar opposite, Bernard Sauvage. These are very intense poets (redundant?) whose lives and careers revolve around poetry. Yet even though the subject matter - poetry - is not something I particularly care for or enjoy, the way that Lan Samantha Chang writes about these characters was compelling.

Chang doesn't use...more

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Oct 13, 2010 Lee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: potential-conflict-of-interest

3.333 stars? A perfectly good short read. A long novella filled with radiant light, very serious poet men, and women whose hair often spools from its braids. The queer repetition (4x, at least) of the adjective "queer" either subtly or heavy-handedly (not sure which) suggested something about these two dudes -- maybe something about how, per Miranda, all memorable relationships in lit are unconventional? Character-wise: Roman, I disliked; Bernard, I didn't believe in; and Jorie Graham (oops, I m...more 3.333 stars? A perfectly good short read. A long novella filled with radiant light, very serious poet men, and women whose hair often spools from its braids. The queer repetition (4x, at least) of the adjective "queer" either subtly or heavy-handedly (not sure which) suggested something about these two dudes -- maybe something about how, per Miranda, all memorable relationships in lit are unconventional? Character-wise: Roman, I disliked; Bernard, I didn't believe in; and Jorie Graham (oops, I mean Miranda) I didn't really see well enough to fully sense her luminosity/radiance. Lucy also seemed underdrawn. Some beautiful lines, resplendant in time and dying golden light, all of it trapped in amber and/or soap bubbles, etc, sure, but that same soft beauty also maybe undermined things a bit for me, undercut any intensity there might've been? Definitely not about blood-and-gut poets or holy fool/ecstatic poets. One's an ambitious careerist worried that he's sort of soul-less. The other's oh so humorously pure, an ascetic correspondent, an unembittered humble idealist till the end. The workshops seemed like romanticized caritictures attended by pomo vampire poets: late-fall dusk, candlelight, quasi-sacramental paper cups of red wine, glowing cigarette embers, over-the-top overpacked responses from students, everything at stake! Really found it interesting as an exploration of worries re: unquantifiable artistic achievement. Very readable, short, clear, with few characters to muss up the clarity, but ultimately sort of maybe a little too bloodless, too focused, too SANE for me, recollected in a little too much tranquility? Sometimes felt like a sort of chaste poet porn censored for serious literary publication and subsequent polite critical approval? (I'd've loved for a Dean Young-type minor character, a Russell Edson, instead of the semi-stereotypical older gay male predator poet.) I really groaned at a heavy-handed/manipulative bit (ie, Avery's finale), especially the subsequent lines to his father. Ultimately, I came to this with low expectations -- thought it would tar the feathers of my writerly/readerly soul -- but was pleasantly surprised and even kind of enjoyed the few hours I spent with it, but I'm not sure I'll remember much of it by 2011? Infinitely better than Blue Angel. Something that seemed missing was the spark talked about in Dean Young's The Art of Recklessness: Poetry as Assertive Force and Contradiction, but maybe that's also something that makes this one kind of interesting: a book about poets very much unlike "The Dead Poets Society" or "Howl" etc. Not so much about inspiration or wine-drunk wildness or even struggles with the work -- more so, it's about the relationships that act on and react to the work? (less)

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Oct 03, 2010 Olivia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: rbc

This book is very well written. I think it has very few flaws - the story is good, the perspective is executed well, the characters are developed more or less well, and the writing is precise, spare, and sharp. I gave it three stars because although it was technically very good, I still don't think it has the potential to be a "great" book. But I enjoyed reading it, and read it very quickly.

--- FAVOURITE QUOTES ---
"He understood now, viscerally, something he had only suspected as a child: that...more

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Oct 16, 2012 Kristiana Kahakauwila rated it 3 of 5 stars

Chang's quality of writing is superb. Her level of detail and the emotional complexity of life as she presents it to us. I loved the interweaving narratives of the four main characters, their small slights that blossom and cast a shadow over the rest of their lives, their capacities (or incapacities) for love.

And yet...

I had a hard time investing myself in a main character who was a writer. I love being a writer. I don't think it's an ignoble pursuit. But Roman's emotional distance made him a d...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I am conflicted about this book, which is set (at the start, at least) at a prestigious, "Iowa-esque" writing program where the students worship their poetry professor and vie for her approval/attention. It's all very dishy: there are students & teachers behaving badly, prizes bestowed despite (or because of?) conflicts of interest, friendships & romances forged and broken and, at the bottom of it all, the urgently asked question: "But is it poetry?"

I'll admit that I loved the gossipy, s...more

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Mar 16, 2011 Molly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bookclub, a-fireplace-in-winter-of-the-prose

The writing is muscular, crisp--no wasted space here. I appreciated the good writing, though it also didn't glow.

In turn, there were four central characters, and of them, we only follow the overtly ambitious Roman, and tonight at book club, we were left wondering more about the quiet Lucy who sacrificed career for Roman's and for family. We also wondered more about Bernard, the Emily Dickinson reclusive character, and Miranda, the Jorie Graham thinly disguised.

This MFA program was both familiar...more

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Sep 08, 2010 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: published-2010, arc, reading-list-2010, books-about-books

Lan Samantha Chang's All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost is a beautifully written novel about the lives of the poets. In this case, the poets are three members of a poetry writing program in a Midwestern university – a program not unlike (I suspect) the Iowa Writers' Workshop of which Chang is the director – and the poet-professor who influences their lives far beyond the seminar room.

The story is told in three major sections. We first meet Roman, Lucy, and Bernard in the poetry-writing class led...more Lan Samantha Chang's All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost is a beautifully written novel about the lives of the poets. In this case, the poets are three members of a poetry writing program in a Midwestern university – a program not unlike (I suspect) the Iowa Writers' Workshop of which Chang is the director – and the poet-professor who influences their lives far beyond the seminar room.

The story is told in three major sections. We first meet Roman, Lucy, and Bernard in the poetry-writing class led by the famous (and feared) poet Miranda Sturgis. After graduation, we follow Roman as he begins his own teaching career, marries Lucy, and struggles to complete a long-worked-on volume of poetry. When Bernard becomes homeless for a while, he spends several months with Roman and Lucy – so the friends are together again after many years, and their relationships are renewed and undergo changes. Then, in the third section of the book, we drop back in on the group ten years later for a final look.

I enjoyed the book as I was reading it. The academic settings seemed very authentic, and the book moved along at a nice pace. And while I can't say I really liked any of the characters, they did seem real to me – sometimes frustratingly real. However, I have to admit that a week after finishing it, I find myself struggling to remember much about the characters or the incidents. Perhaps it was a little too realistic to be really memorable. Or maybe it's just that the writing life – or any life devoted to the pursuit of art – is never easy to portray in writing.

Still, I definitely think the book is worth reading, if only for Chang's gorgeous and elegant prose style. She's a new discovery for me, and now I'm eager to read her earlier work.

Note: This review refers to an advance reading copy of the novel, provided free of charge by the publisher through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. No other compensation was received and no one attempted to influence my opinion of the book.(less)

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Nov 01, 2011 Jan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I'm pretty sure that every character in this book is emotionally damaged or stunted. How else can you explain that they were all making such a big deal out of the fact that one of the characters had an affair with their mutual professor when they were in grad school? The student was in his late 20s at the time, so I can't imagine that there was anything terribly unethical about it, except for the fact that one of them was married.

I don't know, it just seemed like much ado about nothing to me. Ad...more

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Nov 17, 2010 Terryann rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: lj-books-reviewed

Chang, Lan Samantha. All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost. 5CDs. 6 Hours. HighBridge Audio. 2010. ISBN: 978-1-61573-560-0 $26.95. F

The renowned Miranda Sturgis is the terrifying genius professor of poetry in Bonneville who 'bludgeons' her students with her critiques. Miranda the cold, aloof, distant, elusive. Roman is haunted by Miranda for long after their grad school affair, even as he becomes a professor and award winning poet. Read by Ramón De Ocampo who poeticises the work despite its lack the...more

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Jun 07, 2011 Emma rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is so hauntingly beautiful! The intensity of the prose reads like poetry – see the little excerpt here below, a line I kept reading and rereading. The characters are very real, their feelings and emotion so aptly described and evoked. I felt drawn by these people all along, and read this book in one sitting. This is the sort of book after which the characters remain in you, you seem to know them like other acquaintances. How fascinating would it be to have such a writer leading your wr...more

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Nov 12, 2010 Danielle Larca rated it 5 of 5 stars

The year is 1986; Roman, Lucy and Bernard are part of a seminar run by the feared and revered poet, Miranda Sturgis. Miranda is notorious for her harsh critiques ("bludgeonings"), yet Roman and Bernard find themselves vying for her attention and praise. As these four lives intersect over the course of twenty years, secrets are revealed, friendships are tested, and love is found and lost. Prevalent throughout the novel is the question of craft vs. talent in relation to writing. Can poetry be taug...more

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Oct 01, 2010 Jeannine added it

Shelves: fic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 20, 2011 Chrissy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Definitely not the oomph I was hoping for from the Director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, especially given the irony of her subject matter! I almost wonder if her 0 degrees of separation held her back in this regard. The emotional tenor of the book felt very forced, with too many of the characters' internal struggles spelled out in expository rather than active scenes. So intent she was to make the characters archetypical, the characters didn't feel 'real.'

The book is short, barely over 200 pa...more

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Nov 30, 2010 Trent rated it 5 of 5 stars

Grade: A ... a near perfect novel; compact and poetic; a wonderful examination on the nature of creativity and craft, of ambition and drive at the expense of personal relationships; elegiac and atmospheric, haunting and beautiful; Chang writes elegant passages, seeking out that off-kilter angle, that aesthetic slant that defines what it means to have a "poetic education"; you will not like or approve of every character, you may not always understand their decisions and attitudes, but viewed thro...more

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Oct 02, 2010 Tara rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, 2010-official-count

Everyone in the Rumpus book club was crazy about this book, but I'm not sure why. None of the characters were believable or substantial (except maybe Bernard, who found fascinating, but only became a real character at the very end). Often, the main character would think or feel or say things that just didn't make any sense--I couldn't figure out what was motivating him (and I don't believe it was meant that way). I liked the last third of the book the best--it felt like that was the story she wa...more

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Jan 16, 2011 Shawna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well written, but I'd only recommend this for a certain type of reader. Meaning, there is no better navel gazing than MFA navel gazing. This is written by an academic about academics, that seem to take themselves and their work entirely too seriously. In my opinion the best thing about writing seminars is how much I and my classmates/friends laughed--about ourselves, our work, our ideas. We weren't composing epic poems about Joliet and Marquette's journey to the Mississippi either. (Yawn)

The tw...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Wavelength rated it 4 of 5 stars

An exploration of youthful love and ambition and how life rarely turns out the way we envisioned. Roman, Bernard and Lucy meet in Miranda's poetry seminar. We meet them as college students who have the luxury of sitting around a seminar table drinking wine and critiquing poetry. We follow them in to middle age and divorces, death and memories of more vigorous days. Roman, the driven and focused poet who never wholly gave himself to another human being, Bernard the poet who spent a lifetime perfe...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Alecia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Even though I have never been in a writing program of any sort, I enjoyed this book. The characters in this short novel are mostly poets. It begins in a class/workshop with the revered teacher/poet Miranda. Roman and his friend Bernard are very gifted, and there are a group Roman calls "acolytes" as they whirl around and worship Miranda's every word. But so do Roman and Bernard who yearn, as the whole class does, for a crumb of approval or encouragement. This is part one," A Poetic Education". T...more

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Apr 23, 2011 Joo Ok rated it 4 of 5 stars

Patrice, this review's for you. Reading books like this is always self-indulgent, because as a grad student I like to know that fictional others are suffering through very particular experiences I'm familiar with - sitting in seminar with grad students, the trepidation of visiting and holding office hours, the dull pressure of knowing that your work's never quite finished, the relief of always finding something beautiful to read. As boring as it sounds, for me it's the pleasure of recognition. I...more

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About Lan Samantha Chang

Lan Samantha Chang's fiction has appeared in Atlantic Monthly, Story and The Best American Short Stories 1994 and 1996. Chang is the author of the award-winning books Hunger and Inheritance, and the novel All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost. She is the recipient of the Wallace Stegner and Truman Capote fellowships at Stanford University. She also received, from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, a Teaching...more

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