Cool to be kind

摘要

FOR ALMOST a quarter of a century, Sigrid Nunez maintained the quiet life of a writer's writer. Critically acclaimed but under-known, she published her first novel in 1995 and then many others; but she supported herself mostly with teaching gigs at colleges in and around New York, where she has lived "like a grad student" in the same downtown Manhattan flat since the 1980s. Then in 2018 her eighth book, "The Friend", became a surprise bestseller and went on to win the National Book Award for fiction. Many of her other books are now reaching readers around the world. The sudden attention is bittersweet for Ms Nunez, who is 69. Though such success would have been "tremendously useful" earlier in her career, she says she is grateful that she could "develop anonymously as a writer", without the pressure of fame. Her new status has meant she speaks to larger audiences and can cut back on her teaching, but her daily life and feelings about her craft are generally unchanged. She was already well into her next novel by the time "The Friend" climbed bestseller lists. "What Are You Going Through", out now, is not exactly a sequel, she says, but "these books belong together." Both are "preoccupied with death". And with ageing: "At a certain age, there is only one subject.".