Katie Kitamura (born 1979) is an American novelist, journalist, and art critic. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the London Consortium.[2]
Katie Kitamura | |
---|---|
Born | 1979 (age 44–45) Sacramento, California, U.S. |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Education | Princeton University London Consortium (PhD) |
Notable works | The Longshot |
Spouse | Hari Kunzru |
Children | 2[1] |
Katie Kitamura was born in Sacramento, California[3] in 1979 to a family of Japanese origin,[4] and raised in Davis, where her father Ryuichi was a professor at UC Davis Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.[2][5][6]
Kitamura graduated from Princeton University in New Jersey in 1999. She earned a PhD in American literature from the London Consortium.[7] Her thesis was titled The Aesthetics of Vulgarity and the Modern American Novel (2005).[8]
Earlier in her life, Kitamura trained as a ballerina.[9][10]
Kitamura wrote Japanese for Travellers: A Journey, describing her travels across Japan and examining the dichotomies of its society and her own place in it as a Japanese-American.[11]
Kitamura was introduced to mixed martial arts in Japan by her brother.[12] Her first novel, The Longshot, published in 2009, is about the preparation undertaken by a fighter and his trainer ahead of a championship bout against a famous opponent. The cover art of the US edition of her book features the title tattooed on knuckles; the knuckles are her brother's.[9] Kitamura's second novel, Gone to the Forest, published in 2013, is set in an unnamed colonial country and describes the life and suffering of a landowning family against a backdrop of civil strife and political change.[13]
Kitamura's 2017 novel A Separation will be adapted for a film starring Katherine Waterston.[14] Her novel Intimacies appeared in 2021.
Kitamura writes for The Guardian, The New York Times, and Wired.[2] She has written articles on mixed martial arts,[15] film criticism and analysis,[16] and art.[17][18]
In 2010, Kitamura's The Longshot was shortlisted for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award.[19] In 2013, her Gone to the Forest was also shortlisted for the Young Lions Fiction Award. In 2021, Kitamura's Intimacies was longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.[20]
Kitamura is married to author Hari Kunzru.[23]