Margot Singer

Singer’s writing reflects a fascination with the unseen forces that shape human relationships: the secrets people keep from one another, the prejudices they can’t quite leave behind, and the distance that persists even in moments of intimacy. She explores vast and weighty subjects—from terrorism, to cross-cultural misunderstanding, to the legacy of history—through small, carefully rendered stories of people trying, and often failing, to bridge the distance between them.

The author of four books, Singer’s fiction and nonfiction works have earned numerous awards, including the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her novel Underground Fugue was shortlisted for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, and her debut collection The Pale of Settlement was honored by the PEN/Hemingway Award. A Marshall scholar and former McKinsey consultant, she is a professor of English and director of creative writing at Denison University.