Pamela Erens

Pamela Erens is an American writer who appeared on a list compiled by the Reader's Digest of "23 Contemporary Writers You Should Have Read by Now".^[1] She has written three critically acclaimed novels for adults, a highly praised novel for middle schoolers,^[2][3] and the memoir/critical hybrid Middlemarch and the Imperfect Life.^[4] Her debut novel, The Understory (2007), was a fiction finalist for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing^[5] and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize,.^[6] Erens's second novel, The Virgins (2013), received accolades from many sources including The New York Times, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair.^[7] It was a finalist for the John Gardner Fiction Book Award.^[8] Her third novel, Eleven Hours, was published in May 2016.^[9] It was named a Best Book of 2016 by The New Yorker,^[10] NPR,^[11] and Kirkus.^[12] Erens's middle grade novel, Matasha, was published in June 2021.^[13] Erens has also written essays and critical articles for publications such as The New York Times, Vogue, Elle, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Los Angeles Review of Books.^[14]