Jen Beagin

Beagin grew up in Torrance, California, and moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, in her youth.^[1] She returned to college in her mid-30s,^[2] and attended the University of Massachusetts Boston.^[3] She earned an MFA in Writing from the University of California, Irvine.^[4][5]

Among other jobs, Beagin was a long time housecleaner. This inspired the character of Mona, who is the housecleaner protagonist of her first two books.^[6] And, like the character Greta in the novel "Big Swiss," Beagin also transcribed therapy sessions "briefly."^[7]

Pretend I'm Dead, her first novel, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews which also noted it among the Best Fiction of 2018.^[8] Pretend I'm Dead was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.^[9] The popular website Emily Books gave an early positive review of the book,^[10] the first edition of which was published by Northwestern University Press in 2015.^[11] The novel was reissued as a hardcover in 2018 by Simon & Schuster.^[12]

Vacuum in the Dark,^[13] a sequel to Pretend I'm Dead, received a starred Kirkus review and was named a best book for February 2019 by Oprah Magazine.^[14] Publishers Weekly has a starred review, calling it "a sharp and superb novel" that "pulls no punches—this novel is viciously smart and morbidly funny."^[15]

Big Swiss is about a woman who transcribes sex therapy sessions and how she falls for a client Flavia, the titular "Big Swiss".

Publishers Weekly Tip Sheet notes that "This unconventional love story has a surplus of appeal from page one."^[16]

Entertainment Weekly said: "Beagin stands out among fiction's fresh crop of promising voices."^[17] NPR Books says that "Beagin is a wonderfully funny writer who also happens to tackle serious subjects."^[18]

• 2017: Whiting Award for fiction^[19][20]
• 2018: Pretend I'm Dead shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.^[21]
• 2019: Vacuum in the Dark shortlist for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.^[22]