Bio & Education

LYNN FREED was born and grew up in Durban, South Africa. She came to New York as a graduate student, receiving her M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature from Columbia University.

After moving to San Francisco, she wrote her first novel, HEART CHANGE (republished as FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY). Since then, she has published five more novels: HOME GROUND, THE BUNGALOW, THE MIRROR, HOUSE OF WOMEN and THE SERVANTS’ QUARTERS. In 2004, her first collection of short stories, THE CURSE OF THE APPROPRIATE MAN, was published, and, in 2005, her first collection of essays, READING, WRITING & LEAVING HOME: LIFE ON THE PAGE.

Ms. Freed’s short fiction and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, Southwest Review, the Michigan Quarterly Review, The Santa Monica Review, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, Mirabella, Elle, House Beautiful, House & Garden, and Vogue, among others. Her work is widely translated, and is included in a number of anthologies.

In 1986, Ms. Freed won the Bay Area Book Reviewers’ Award for Fiction for HOME GROUND. In 1993, THE BUNGALOW was nominated for the same award; THE MIRROR in 1997 and HOUSE OF WOMEN in 2003. FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY was short listed for the 2000 Western States Book Award. Her short fiction has been named in BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES and THE O. HENRY SHORT STORY collections, and reprinted in a number of anthologies. HOME GROUND, THE BUNGALOW, THE MIRROR and HOUSE OF WOMEN have all appeared on The New York Times “Notable Books of the Year” list and on its “New & Noteworthy Paperback” list. And THE CURSE OF THE APPROPRIATE MAN has appeared on The New York Times “Notable Books of the Year” list.

In 2002, Ms. Freed was awarded the inaugural Katherine Anne Porter Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Guggenheim Foundation and been awarded residency fellowships supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, The Camargo Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Bogliasco Foundation, the Corporation of Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony, among others.

Ms. Freed is Professor of English at the University of California in Davis.

Education

PH.D. English Literature
Columbia University

M.A. English Literature
Columbia University

B.A.
University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Teaching

TEACHING Literature and Creative Writing

• Professor of English, University of California, Davis

PAST TEACHING

• Core Faculty, MFA Program, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
• Distinguished Writer in Residence, St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA
• Writer in Residence, University of Montana, Missoula, MT
• Writer in Residence, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
• Professor, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
• Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, CA
• Lecturer, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

SUMMER CONFERENCES

• Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference
• Squaw Valley Community of Writers
• Prague Summer Program
• Bennington Writing Workshops
• Napa Valley Writers’ Conference

VISITING FACULTY

• American University, Washington, D.C.
• George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
• St. Lawrence University, NY
• University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR
• Denison University, Ohio
• Denver University, Denver, CO
• San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
• California State University, Chico, CA