LYNN FREED was born and grew up in Durban, South Africa. She came to New York as a graduate student, receiving her M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature from Columbia University.
After moving to San Francisco, she wrote her first novel, HEART CHANGE (New American Library, 1982; republished by Story Line Press in 2000 as FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY). Since then, she has published four more novels: HOME GROUND (William Heinemann Ltd., London; Summit Books/Simon & Schuster, 1986; Penguin, 1987; Penguin Books UK, 1988; Spring, 1999: Story Line Press,), THE BUNGALOW (1993: Poseidon/Simon & Schuster; Fall, 1999: Story Line Press), THE MIRROR (1997: Crown Publishers; 1999: Ballantine Books; 1999 Flamingo, HarperCollins UK), and HOUSE OF WOMEN (2002, Little, Brown & Co. & Flamingo, HarperCollins UK). In 2004, her first collection of short stories, THE CURSE OF THE APPROPRIATE MAN, was published by Harcourt Trade Publishers, and, in 2005, her first collection of essays, READING, WRITING & LEAVING HOME, will be published, also by Harcourt.
Ms. Freed's short fiction and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, Southwest Review, the Michigan Quarterly Review, The Santa Monica Review, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, Mirabella, Elle, House Beautiful, House & Garden, and Vogue, among others. Her work is widely translated, and is included in a number of anthologies.
In 1986, Ms. Freed won the Bay Area Book Reviewers' Award for Fiction for HOME GROUND. In 1993, THE BUNGALOW was nominated for the same award; THE MIRROR in 1997 and HOUSE OF WOMEN in 2003. FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY was short listed for the 2000 Western States Book Award. Her short fiction has been named in BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES and THE Oâ??HENRY SHORT STORY collections, and reprinted in a number of anthologies. HOME GROUND, THE BUNGALOW, THE MIRROR and HOUSE OF WOMEN have all appeared on The New York Times "Notable Books of the Year" list and on its "New & Noteworthy Paperback" list. And THE CURSE OF THE APPROPRIATE MAN has appeared on The New York Times "Notable Books of the Year" list.
In 2002, Ms. Freed was awarded the inaugural Katherine Anne Porter Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has also received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Guggenheim Foundation. She has been awarded residency fellowships supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, The Camargo Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Bogliasco Foundation, the Corporation of Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony, among others.
Ms. Freed is Professor of English at the University of California in Davis
