American writer (born 1955)
Katherine Vaz |
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Vaz in 2007 |
Born | (1955-08-26) August 26, 1955 (age 68)
Castro Valley, California, US |
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Occupation | Writer |
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Genre | Novels, short stories, non-fiction, children’s literature |
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Spouses |
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Katherine Vaz (born August 26, 1955) is a Portuguese-American writer. A Briggs-Copeland Fellow in Fiction at
Harvard University (2003–2009), a 2006–2007 Fellow of the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study,
[1] and the Fall, 2012 Harman Fellow at Baruch College in New York,
[2] she is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Above the Salt, which was chosen as one of People Magazine's Best New Books to Read in November, 2023.
[3]
Vaz's novel Saudade (St. Martin’s Press, 1994) is the first contemporary novel about Portuguese-Americans from a major New York publisher. It was optioned by Marlee Matlin/Solo One Productions and selected in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers series.
[4]
Her novel,
Mariana, (HarperCollins, 1997), was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the Top 30 International Books of 1998 and has been translated into six languages.
[1]
Vaz's first short story collection Fado & Other Stories received the 1997
Drue Heinz Literature Prize
[5] and her second collection, Our Lady of the Artichokes, won the 2007
Prairie Schooner Book Prize.
[6]
Vaz is a recipient of a Literature Fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Arts (1993)
[7] and the Davis Humanities Institute Fellowship (1999). She has been named by the Luso-Americano as one of the Top 50 Luso-Americanos of the twentieth century
[8] and is the first Portuguese-American to have her work recorded for the Library of Congress, housed in the Hispanic Division. The Portuguese-American Women’s Association (PAWA) named her 2003 Woman of the Year.
[9] She was appointed to the six-person U.S. Presidential Delegation to open the American Pavilion at the World’s Fair/Expo 98 in Lisbon.
[10] She lives in New York City and the Springs area of East Hampton with
Christopher Cerf, whom she married in July 2015.
[11]
Awards
Accolades
- Vaz is the first Portuguese-American writer to have work recorded for the Archives of the Library of Congress
- Named one of the top fifty Luso-Americans of the 20th century by LusoAmericano Magazine
- Named by the Portuguese Leadership Council of the U.S. as one of the All-Time Most Influential Lusa Women
- Appointed to the six-person Presidential Delegation to open the U.S. pavilion at Expo 98/World's Fair in Lisbon
[13]
- Above the Salt chosen as one of
People Magazine's Best New Books to Read in Nov. 2023
[14]
Published works
Novels
- Saudade (St. Martin’s Press, June 1994)
- Mariana (HarperCollins/Flamingo, 1997)
- Above the Salt (Flatiron Books, MacMillan, 2023)
Story collections
Short stories
- "I Can’t Keep Anything Nice in This House" (Descant, Fort Worth, TX, Fall/Winter 1986)
- "What I Did on My Christmas Vacation" (Proof Rock, Halifax, VA, Winter 1988)
- "Original Sin" (Black Ice, Belmont, MA, 1988)
- "A Little Irish Water Music" (
The Sun, March 1988)
- "Sostenuto" (Kalliope, Jacksonville, FL, February 1988)
- "Fado" (
TriQuarterly, Fall 1989)
- "Cartooning is Dead" (Primavera, Ann Arbor, MI, 1989)
- "Add Blue to Make White Whiter" (
Other Voices, Summer/Fall 1990)
- "Red Tide" (Webster Review, Webster Groves, MO, Spring 1991)
- "Still Life" (The American Voice, Louisville, KY, 1993)
- "Scalings" (
The Gettysburg Review, Spring 1995)
- "The Birth of Water Stories" (Speak, San Francisco, CA, October 1996)
- "Island Fever" (Nimrod, Tulsa, OK, Fall/Winter 1996)
- "The Lost Love Letter of a Nun" (Madame Class Magazine, Milan, Italy, August 1997)
- "Michigan Girl" (
The Iowa Review, December 2000)
- "Utter" (The Malahat Review, Fall 2000)
- "The Man Who Was Made of Netting" (
Tin House, January 2001)
- "My Family, Posing for Rodin" (The Antioch Review, Summer 2001)
- "Taking a Stitch in a Dead Man’s Arm" (
BOMB, Winter 2001)
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- "Blue Flamingo Looks At Red Water" (The Sun May, 2002)
- "The Glass-Eaters" (
Glimmer Train, Fall 2002)
- "Bébé Marie Springs from the Box" (ACM (Another Chicago Magazine), Fall 2002)
- "Annette Kellermann Is My Hero" (
The Alaska Quarterly Review, Spring 2003)
- "Pavane for a Dead Princess" (Kalliope, Spring 2003)
- "the rice artist" (The Iowa Review, August 2003)
- "Burning Sailor Boy" (Provincetown Arts, Summer 2003)
- "Our Lady of the Artichokes" (
Pleiades, Fall 2003)
- "The Love Life of an Assistant Animator" (Glimmer Train, Fall 2003)
- "A Simple Affair" (
Gargoyle Magazine, May 2004)
- "The Knife Longs for the Ruby" (
Ninth Letter, Spring 2004)
- "Our Bones Here Are Waiting for Yours" (Five Points, 2004)
- "East Bay Grease" (The Antioch Review, Summer 2004)
- "One Must Speak of Sex in French" (Confrontation, Fall 2004/Winter 2005)
- "All Riptides Roar with Sand from Opposing Shores" (Notre Dame Review, Winter 2006)
- "Lisbon Story" (
Harvard Review, Spring 2006)
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Non-fiction
- "Songs of the Soul, Songs of the Night," The New York Times, Sophisticated Traveler Magazine, September 18, 1994
- Signatures of Grace (Dutton, 2000). Essay on Baptism. (In conjunction with Mary Gordon, Andre Dubus, Patricia Hampl, Ron Hansen, Paula Huston, Paul Mariani).
- "Carving the Fruitstones," for anthology about short fiction, 2004, Greenwood Publications.
- "This Howling," essay on the Azores/introduction to novel by João de Melo (My World Is Not of This Kingdom, translated from Portuguese by Gregory Rabassa), Aliform Press, 2003.
Children's literature
- "The Kingdom of Melting Glances" short story in A Wolf at the Door (Simon & Schuster, 2000, in fourth printing)
- "A World Painted by Birds" in Green Man anthology (Viking, 2002)
- "My Swan Sister," title story in Swan Sister and Other Stories (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
- "Your Garnet Eyes,"in anthology Faery Reel, (Viking, 2004)
- "Chamber Music for Animals," in Coyote Road anthology (Viking, 2006)
Critical response
Vaz's novel "Saudade" received positive reviews, earning an average 4/5 stars on
Goodreads.
[15] According to the
Library Journal, “This wonderfully inventive novel, which contains elements of magic realism, is infused with a sense of saudade-a Portuguese word that, according to the author, can be understood as an extremely intense longing for a time, place, or people... First novelist Vaz has written a challenging and rewarding work of fiction.”
[16]
Her novel "Mariana" also received positive reviews, with an average 3.6 stars.
[17] Her most recent novel, "Above the Salt," has received an average of 3.75 stars on Goodreads.
[18] According to
Maaza Mengiste, “Katherine Vaz writes with piercing, startling beauty: every sentence suffused with longing, every moment shining with possibility. In Above the Salt she offers us a story of discovery and loss, and the fragile but unwavering bonds of love that endure, despite it all. Vaz’s Saudade is a novel that has stayed with me for decades. In this latest book, Katherine Vaz has confirmed herself as one of our best writers.”
[19]
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