Gary Shteyngart

Russian-born author Gary Shteyngart wins over readers and audiences with his blistering humor, his satirical takedowns of contemporary society, and his compassionate examination of modern love and loss. His latest novel, Our Country Friends, follows a group of friends isolating together for six months during the pandemic. “There cannot be a more relevant novel for our moment, certainly not one with such beauty of description, depth of feeling, and, as always, humor. Shteyngart has written an American comic Decameron, or, to be plain: a masterpiece,” raves Pulitzer Prize-winning author Andrew Sean Greer. Shteyngart’s novel Lake Success tells the tale of a modern American living as a member of the one percent who abandons everything to discover the “real America,” and his other critically acclaimed and bestselling novels include Super Sad True Love Story, Absurdistan and The Russian Debutante’s Handbook. His memoir Little Failure was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and speaks to the American immigrant story with heart, humor and biting wit. Shteyngart’s novels frequent the “best of” lists, and he was named a Granta Best Young American Novelist and a New Yorker “Best Writer Under 40.” Off the page, Shteyngart is a masterful storyteller recounting his life as a Lenin-loving, ratty-fur-overcoat-wearing child to his anxiety-attack-prone twenties in New York. As a speaker, Shteyngart explores what it means to be an immigrant, a son, an American, a grown-up, and a writer.

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