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Biography
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Allegra was born in Brooklyn, New York, but grew up in Honolulu where her parents taught at the University of Hawaii. She has been writing prose avidly since the age of seven.
Now, at the age of 35, she has published four books of fiction, which have taken the literary world by storm. Goodman's unabashed exploration of traditional Judaism coupled with her knowledge of its intricacies mark her as a new phenomenon on the American Jewish literary scene. She has been described as an altogether original talent (Los Angles Times), whose writing is hilarious (New York Newsday).
Her first book, a collection of stories titled Total Immersion, was published in 1989 on the same day that she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. While pursuing her Ph.D in English at Stanford, Goodman also wrote for The New Yorker and completed her second book of stories, The Family Markowitz, which quickly became a national bestseller. The Family Markowitz was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 1996 and was the fiction winner in the First Annual Salon Book Awards.
"welcome"
Goodman's first novel, Kaaterskill Falls, was published to high acclaim last August by Dial Press, received the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Jewish fiction and was a National Book Award finalist. Goodman is also the recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award, and a 1999 Jewish Cultural Achievement Award. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and in Commentary, in Prize Stories 1995: the O.Henry Awards and other anthologies. Her latest novel is Paradise Park, published in 1999.
She received a Ph.D. in English Literature from Stanford University. Ms. Goodman lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and four children.
More about Allegra in the
Harvard Magazine:
Other People's Autobiographer
More about Allegra in the
Radcliffe Quarterly
Talking With Allegra Goodman
Read Allegra's Author Notebook
In Her Own Words, at Doubleday
Read Allegra's Slate Diary
The Week of April 15, 1997
Entry for Saturday, April 19, 1997
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