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Edie Meidav

エディ・メイダヴ

Edie Meidav

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1967-01-01 （Toronto, Ontario, Canada）
Nationality
United States, Canada
Languages
English
Residence History
Toronto (birthplace) → Oakland (high school) → San Francisco (worked/lived) → New York City (worked/lived) → Amherst (faculty at UMass Amherst)

Career

Occupations
novelist, writer, professor
Active Years
1999-
Affiliations
New College of California (former MFA director), The New School (Lang College, taught), Bard College (writer-in-residence), University of Massachusetts Amherst (MFA faculty)

Education

Yale University
English / Studio Art
Degree: BA
Country: United States
BA in English / Studio Art
Mills College at Northeastern University
Creative Writing (MFA)
Degree: MFA
Country: United States
MFA (studied with Robert Hass)

Awards

Fulbright Awards (Sri Lanka and Cyprus)
Organization: Fulbright Program
Result: 受賞
Howard Fellowship
Organization: The Howard Foundation
Result: 受賞
Lannan Literary Fellowship
2007
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: 受賞
Bard Fiction Prize
2005
Organization: Bard College
Result: 受賞
Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize
2001
Work: The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon
Category: 最優秀米国女性著者による小説
Organization: Awarding organization
Result: 受賞
Los Angeles Times Best Books (2001)
2001
Work: The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: 選出
Los Angeles Times Best Book (2006)
2006
Work: Crawl Space
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: 選出

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon

2001 historical fiction

Set in colonial Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the novel follows an American attempting to establish a utopian community and explores local life, colonialism, and cultural clash without nostalgia.

colonialismcultural clashutopian failure

Crawl Space

2005 fiction about history and memory

Told in the voice of a Vichy-era criminal, the novel examines commodification of wartime memory, guilt, and responsibility.

memory of warguilt and responsibilitycommodification of memory

Lola, California

2011 contemporary novel

A novel concerning the death penalty, motherhood, female friendship, and the cultural aftermath of 1960s idealism, exploring ethical conflicts between individuals and society.

death penaltymotherhoodfemale friendship

Kingdom of the Young

2017 short fiction collection with nonfiction coda

A collection of short fiction accompanied by a nonfiction coda, addressing youth, growth, and memory.

youthcoming of agememory

Another Love Discourse

2022 long-form / essayistic prose

A recent work containing repetitive and critical meditations on love and relationships.

loverelationshipscritical reflection

Bibliography

  • The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon (2001)
  • Crawl Space (2005)
  • Lola, California (2011)
  • Kingdom of the Young (2017)
  • Another Love Discourse (2022)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
weaves historical fact and fictioncritical, observant prosenarratives that juxtapose inner life and social context
Recurring Motifs
memorycolonialism / Western gazemotherhood and women's relationshipswar and its remembrance

Legacy

Edie Meidav is recognized for works that interrogate colonialism, memory, and ethical questions between individuals and society. She has received multiple fellowships and literary awards and contributed to creative writing education through MFA programs, offering a critical perspective in contemporary Anglophone literature.

Quotes

  • Edie Meidav is a student of human bewilderment. Her first novel is historical fiction without a shred of nostalgia, justified by emotional honesty and a visceral sense of place.
    Source: The Village Voice review (2001)
  • While Meidav's lens is panoramic, she manages to keep her focus human in scale, providing a virtual novelistic treatise on the colonial experience.
    Source: salon review (2001)

Trivia

  • Has two daughters.
  • Twitter handle: @lolacalifornia; Instagram: @meidav.
  • Holds a BA from Yale and an MFA from Mills College.