Naomi Weisman is the writer and editor of Nomi's Pics in our Rambler Cafe Blog. She is a Canadian-Australian and mother of three who loves to ramble with her dog, cook for family and friends, and laugh whenever possible.
Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Egan was born in Chicago in 1962 and has lived in Brooklyn, New York for years, where she raised her children and lives with her husband.
I first came across Jennifer Egan while driving and listening to a podcast, Minnie Questions, where the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad was being interviewed. Though I had heard her name before, I hadn’t read any of her work. Her soft-spoken and approachable demeanor immediately piqued my interest.
Egan has authored several novels and a collection of short stories. Her 2017 novel Manhattan Beach, a New York Times bestseller, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and was selected as New York City’s One Book One New York pick.
Prior to that, her novel A Visit From the Goon Squad won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011, as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was also recently included in the New York Times’s list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Her latest book, The Candy House—a companion to Goon Squad—was named one of the New York Times’s 10 Best Books of 2022 and even appeared on President Obama’s list of favorite books that year.
Beyond her fiction, Jennifer is a skilled journalist. She has written extensively for The New York Times Magazine, and her 2002 cover story on homeless children won the Carroll Kowal Journalism Award. Her article, The Bipolar Kid, earned the 2009 NAMI Outstanding Media Award for Science and Health Reporting from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Most recently, her year-long reporting on street homelessness and supportive housing in New York City was published in The New Yorker in September 2023.
Jennifer has also served as President of PEN America and held two Artist-in-Residence positions in the University of Pennsylvania’s English Department, where she taught courses on 19th- and 20th-century literature.
So far, I’ve only read Manhattan Beach, which I absolutely loved (you can check out my review when you have a chance!), which is why I was excited to add A Visit from the Goon Squad to our 2025 book list. From what I’ve gathered, this remarkable writer blends meticulous research with a rich imagination, creating striking depictions of the past, present, and future.
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