Mira Jacob

Mira Jacob (b. January 5, 1973, in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is an American writer. She is the author of The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing (2014), a novel about a patriarch who starts talking to ghosts, and Good Talk (2019), a graphic memoir.

Mira Jacob
Born (1973-01-05) January 5, 1973
Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
Occupationwriter
NationalityAmerican
Alma materOberlin College, BA, 1996
New School for Social Research
Notable worksThe Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations
SpouseJed Rothstein
Children1
Website
mirajacob.com

Education and career

Jacob earned her BA from Oberlin College in 1996.[1] She earned her MFA from the New School for Social Research.

Jacob is the founder of Pete's Reading Series, a reading series in Brooklyn.[2] She is the author of The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing, a novel about a patriarch who starts talking to ghosts, and how his seeing spirits affects his family.[3] The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing took Jacob 10 years to complete, during which time her father became sick and died. After his death, Jacob rewrote much of the book with the father character as her own father.[4]

Jacob's second book, Good Talk, is a graphic memoir published in 2019.[5][1] Good Talk was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award,[6] long-listed for the PEN Open Book Award,[7] and named a New York Times Notable Book.[8] It was selected as a best book of the year by Time,[9] Esquire, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal. The memoir is currently in development as a television series with Film 44.[10]

Personal life

Jacob was born and raised in New Mexico to parents who immigrated from India in 1968, the same year they were wed in an arranged marriage. Because there were so few Indian Americans in New Mexico, people often assumed she was Native American, she told Kirkus: "They all thought we were Hopi or Apache or Mexican."[4] When Jacob was 20, her parents fell in love, she wrote in an essay for Vogue. Jacob wrote that their renewed relationship allowed her to form her own romantic relationship with filmmaker Jed Rothstein, whom she later married.[11]

She now lives in Brooklyn with Rothstein and their son.[2][4]

Works
  • The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing. A&C Black. 3 July 2014. ISBN 978-1-4088-4116-7.[3][12][13][14][15]
  • Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2019. ISBN 9781408880173. [16]

References
  1. Hagen, Jeff. "Comics Versus the Comments: Great Talk with Mira Jacob '96," Oberlin Alumni Magazine vol. 114, #2 (Fall/Winter 2019), pp. 12-13.
  2. "Mira Jacob". Penguin Randomhouse. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  3. Collins-Hughes, Laura (August 2, 2014). "Book review: 'The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing' by Mira Jacob". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2015-12-22. Moving forward and back in time, Jacob balances comedy and romance with indelible sorrow, and she is remarkably adept at tonal shifts.
  4. Labrise, Megan (July 1, 2014). "Mira Jacob". Kirkus. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  5. Park, Ed (2019-05-02). "A Graphic Novel That Answers a Child's Question About Being Biracial". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  6. Kellogg, Carolyn. "Announcements: Awards: Announcing the finalists for the 2019 NBCC Awards," National Book Critics Circle website (January 11, 2020).
  7. Press release. "ANNOUNCING THE 2020 PEN AMERICA LITERARY AWARDS LONGLISTS," PEN America website (before March 2020).
  8. Ramana, Ramya/ [https://newschoolwriting.org/interview-with-2019-nbcc-autobiography-finalist-mira-jacob/ "2020 NBCC Finalists Interviews, TNS Lit Scene: INTERVIEW WITH 2019 NBCC AUTOBIOGRAPHY FINALIST MIRA JACOB," Creative Writing at The New School (March 4, 2020).
  9. "Must-Read Books of 2019," Time (2019).
  10. Andreeva, Nellie, and Denise Petski. "Mira Jacob’s Memoir ‘Good Talk’ In Works As TV Series From Peter Berg & Michael Lombardo’s Film 44 And Eddie Huang," Deadline (Feb. 1, 2019).
  11. Jacob, Mira (June 26, 2014). "The Arranged Marriage That Ended Happily Ever After: How My Parents Fell In Love, 30 Years Later". Vogue. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  12. East, Ben (July 6, 2014). "Mira Jacob's debut novel The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing took 10 years to write". The National. Retrieved 2015-12-22. “I’ve reached the age where the tragedies I face are unimaginable, but also unavoidable. You lose people that you love, and it’s a bludgeoning experience. So in this book I wanted to explore that. I didn’t want to lie about how devastating death can be, or make light of it, but pay homage to the sustaining strength of the family – be they Indian, Italian, or whatever – in that moment.”
  13. Blankenbiller, Tabitha. "'The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing' by Mira Jacob Is a Luminous Debut". www.bustle.com. Bustle. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  14. "Fiction review: 'The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing,' by Mira Jacob". www.dallasnews.com. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  15. "Mira Jacob's 'The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing' is a sharp portrait of a grieving family". kansascity. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  16. Jacob, Mira (2019-04-04). Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781408880173.
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