Marie-Helene Bertino

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Marie-Helene Bertino
BornNortheast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationWriter
Education
GenreFiction
Website
www.mariehelenebertino.com

Marie-Helene Bertino is an American novelist and short story writer.[1] She is the author of three novels, Beautyland (2024), Parakeet (2020)[2] and 2AM at the Cat's Pajamas (2014),[3] and one short story collection, Safe as Houses (2012).[4] She has been awarded a Pushcart Prize[5] and an O. Henry Prize[6] for her short stories.

Biography[edit]

Marie-Helene Bertino was born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[7] She is of Italian and French Basque ancestry.[1] She holds a B.A. in English from Villanova University[8] and an M.F.A. from Brooklyn College.[9] After moving to New York City in 2003,[1] Bertino worked for a plaintiff's attorney as a biographer for people living with traumatic brain injury.[1] In 2020, she was the University of Montana MFA Program's Kittredge Visiting Writer.[10] She has also been faculty for the Institute of American Indian Arts' Low Residency M.F.A. Program[11] and the M.A. in Creative Writing at University College Cork,[12] an Associate Editor for One Story, and is an editor-at-large for Catapult.[13] She has named Yōko Ogawa, Edward P. Jones, Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy, and Amy Hempel as influences on her work.[14][15]

She has taught at The New School[16] and New York University.[17] She is currently a lecturer in English at Yale University.[18]

Writing[edit]

Bertino's first book of short stories, Safe as Houses, was selected by Jim Shepard as the winner of the 2012 Iowa Short Fiction Prize and was subsequently published by University of Iowa Press.[19] Safe as Houses was long-listed for the 2013 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award[20] and was named as one of The Story Prize's Outstanding Collections of 2012.[21] Safe as Houses notably includes the story "North Of," in which a woman brings Bob Dylan home for Thanksgiving dinner.[22] "North Of" had previously been awarded a Pushcart Prize[5] and the 2007 Mississippi Review Prize in Fiction.[23] "North Of" has also been anthologized in Mississippi Review 30[24] and was republished in Electric Literature's Recommended Reading.[25]

2AM at the Cat's Pajamas, her debut novel, was published by Crown in 2014.[26] It was selected as a 2014 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Pick[26] and was one of NPR's Best Books of 2014.[27]

Her second novel, Parakeet, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2020.[2] Parakeet follows an unnamed bride in the weeks leading up to her wedding after she is visited by the ghost of her grandmother, appearing in the form of a parakeet, who tells her to find her estranged sibling.[28] Bertino has noted that the character of the grandmother in Parakeet is modeled after her own grandmother, who was an immigrant from the French Pyrenees.[1] Parakeet was met with critical acclaim upon publication.[2][28][29][30] The review aggregator website Book Marks reported the average review for Parakeet was a rave based on 12 critical reviews.[31] Parakeet was a New York Times Editors' Choice,[32] a top-ten book of the year at the Huffington Post,[33] and was long-listed for an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction[34] and the 2020 Joyce Carol Oates Prize.[35]

Beautyland, Bertino's third novel, was published in January 2024 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.[36]

Awards and honors[edit]

  • 2007 Mississippi Review Prize in Fiction
  • 2009 Pushcart Prize
  • 2011 Center for Fiction Fellowship
  • 2012 Iowa Short Fiction Award
  • 2012 Story Prize Outstanding Collection
  • 2014 MacDowell Fellowship[37]
  • 2016 O'Henry Prize
  • 2016 Walter E. Dakin Fellowship at Sewanee Writers' Conference[38]
  • 2020 Kittredge Visiting Writer at The University of Montana

Bibliography[edit]

  • Safe as Houses, University of Iowa Press (2012), ISBN 978-1609381141
  • 2AM at the Cat's Pajamas, Crown (2014), ISBN 978-0804140232
  • Parakeet, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2020), ISBN 978-0374229450
  • Beautyland, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2024), ISBN 978-0374109288

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e "4 Writers to Watch This Summer". The New York Times. 2020-05-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  2. ^ a b c Kalb, Bess (2020-05-29). "Life Advice From a Dead Grandmother Who's Returned as a Bird". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  3. ^ Dwyer, Colin (2014-08-05). "It's 2 A.M.: Do You Know Where Your Fifth-Grader Is?". NPR. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  4. ^ "Safe as Houses by Marie-Helene Bertino". The Rumpus.net. 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  5. ^ a b Bertino, Marie-Helene (2009). "North Of". Pushcart Prize. XXXIII: 154–168. ISBN 978-1-888889-50-5. ISSN 0149-7863. LCCN 76-58675.
  6. ^ Bertino, Marie-Helene (2016). "Exit Zero". The O. Henry Prize Stories. Anchor Books: 156–175. ISBN 978-1-101-97111-6.
  7. ^ "On Mixtapes, Philly, and a Papillon: An Interview with Marie-Helene Bertino". The Common. 2013-05-07. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  8. ^ "English Department Alumni News | Villanova University". www1.villanova.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  9. ^ "Brooklyn College | The Write Stuff". 24 November 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Creative Writing". hs.umt.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  11. ^ "IAIA Winter Readers Gathering—Marie-Helene Bertino and Toni Jensen > Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)". Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  12. ^ "About the MA in Creative Writing". Creative Writing at UCC. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  13. ^ "Catapult | mariehelenebertino". Catapult. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  14. ^ "Marie-Helene Bertino on The Bluest Eye, Edward P. Jones, and All the Pretty Horses". Book Marks. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  15. ^ "An Interview with Marie-Helene Bertino". Believer Magazine. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  16. ^ "Marie-Helene Bertino | The New School". www.newschool.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  17. ^ "Marie-Helene Bertino". NYU | Arts & Science. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  18. ^ "Marie-Helene - Marie Helene Bertino". July 17, 2013.
  19. ^ "2012 Iowa Short Fiction Award Winners Announced | University of Iowa Press". www.uipress.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  20. ^ "FOC Award". www.munsterlit.ie. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  21. ^ Prize, The Story (2013-02-01). "TSP: Other Outstanding 2012 Collections". TSP. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  22. ^ "Favorite Opening: "North Of," Marie-Helene Bertino". Craft. 2017-11-02. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  23. ^ Bertino, Marie-Helene (2007). "North Of". Mississippi Review. 35 (1 & 2): 41–59.
  24. ^ "Mississippi Review 30 Year Anthology". New World Writing. 2012-03-25. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  25. ^ "North Of". Electric Literature. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  26. ^ a b "Marie-Helene Bertino's enchanting debut novel, 2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas - The Crown Publishing GroupThe Crown Publishing Group". The Crown Publishing Group. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  27. ^ Cohen, Nicole; Eads, David; Friedman, Rose; Lettenberger, Becky; Mayer, Petra; Novey, Beth; Rees, Christina (December 3, 2014). "NPR's Book Concierge". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  28. ^ a b "'Parakeet' Is A Funny And Devastating Novel About Trauma". HuffPost. 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  29. ^ Marie-Helene, Bertino. "Parakeet". Library Journal. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  30. ^ "Parakeet". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  31. ^ "Book Marks reviews of Parakeet by Marie-Helene Bertino". Book Marks. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  32. ^ "11 New Books We Recommend This Week". The New York Times. 2020-06-04. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  33. ^ "The Best Books Of 2020". HuffPost. 2020-12-27. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  34. ^ Carmichael, J (2020-10-19). "2020 Winners". Reference & User Services Association (RUSA). Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  35. ^ "2021 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Longlist Announced". The New Literary Project. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  36. ^ "Marie-Helene Bertino on Embracing Multiple Selves". Thresholds. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  37. ^ "Marie-Helene Bertino - Artist". MacDowell. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  38. ^ "Sewanee Writers' Conference • Right Here • The University of the South". www.sewaneewriters.org. Retrieved 2021-12-12.

External links[edit]

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