Laura Moriarty (novelist)

Laura Moriarty (born December 24, 1970, Honolulu, Hawaii) is an American novelist.

Not to be confused with Laura Moriarty (poet and novelist).

Life and work

Laura Moriarty was born in Honolulu in 1970. She earned a degree in social work before earning an M.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Kansas. She was the recipient of the George Bennett Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Moriarty currently lives with her daughter in Lawrence, Kansas, and is at work on her next novel.

According to Moriarty, her debut novel (The Center Of Everything) was deeply influenced by a reading of Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World.[1] Other writers who have had a deep influence on Moriarty include Margaret Atwood, Tobias Wolff, and Jane Hamilton. Her favorite short story writer is Lorrie Moore.

Kirkus controversy

In 2017, Kirkus removed its starred review of Moriarty's novel American Heart after noticing the book's "white point of view" and "public concern" about the novel's alleged "white savior narrative", as described by editor-in-chief Claiborne Smith in interviews with Vulture and NPR.[2] The reviewer, a Muslim woman with expertise in young adult fiction, rewrote her text, adding that the story is "told exclusively through the filter of a white protagonist about a Muslim character," while the magazine removed the star.[3] The novel's author Laura Moriarty commented that "the takeaway [from this episode] for white writers is don't even try to write about people who are different from you."[3]

Selected publications
  • The Center of Everything. Hyperion, 2004
  • The Rest of Her Life. Hyperion, 2007
  • While I'm Falling. Hyperion, 2009
  • The Chaperone. Penguin, 2012
  • American Heart. HarperCollins, 2017

References
  1. Interview at Moriarty's Meet the Writers page
  2. Heller, Nathan (23 October 2017). "Kirkus Reviews and the Plight of the "Problematic" Book Review". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  3. Neary, Lynn (21 October 2017). "Kirkus Changes Review After 'American Heart' Draws Outrage As 'White Savior Narrative'". NPR. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 27 July 2019.


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