Kristen Arnett

Kristen Arnett
Arnett at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born (1980-12-16) December 16, 1980 (age 43)
Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Alma materRollins College (BA)
Florida State University (MS)
Occupation(s)Librarian, writer

Kristen Arnett (born December 16, 1980)[1][2] is an American fiction author and essayist. Her debut novel, Mostly Dead Things, was a New York Times bestseller.[3]

Early life and education

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Arnett was born and raised in Orlando, Florida, where she attended Winter Park High School.[4][5][6] She graduated from Rollins College with a bachelor's degree in English and received her master's degree in library and information science from Florida State University. Arnett was a fellow in the Lambda Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices in 2013.[7]

Career

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Arnett was a librarian at Rollins College and the Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law at Barry University.[8][9] She is a columnist for Literary Hub and was selected as a Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute for the spring 2020 semester.[10][11]

Writing

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Her first collection of short fiction, Felt in the Jaw, was published by Split Lip Press and received the 2017 Coil Book Award.[12] Arnett is a self-described "7-Eleven scholar"[9] and celebrated the debut of Felt in the Jaw at a 7-Eleven store in Orlando.[13] The short story collection focuses on living as a lesbian in Florida.[13]

Arnett's debut novel, Mostly Dead Things, which was published by Tin House in June 2019, was a New York Times bestseller and received critical acclaim.[14][15][16][17][18] The novel was heralded by literary critic Parul Sehgal as her "song of the summer"[19] and by The New Yorker's book critic Katy Waldman as one of the best books of 2019.[20] The book features an openly lesbian main character who runs her family's taxidermy shop after her father dies by suicide.[21]

Arnett's novel, With Teeth, was published by Penguin Random House in 2022.[22]

Arnett's stories have appeared in online and print publications including Guernica magazine,[23] The North American Review,[24] Oprah Magazine, and Gay Magazine.[25] Her essays have been published in various venues including The Rumpus,[26] Electric Literature,[27] and Orlando Weekly.[28]

Arnett's third novel, Stop Me If You've Heard This One, is set for release in March 2025 by Riverhead Books.[29][30]

"Marvin" tweet

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Arnett's Twitter feed became a case study in how corporations use Twitter when in 2018 she tweeted, "This morning at 7-eleven I saw a lizard next to the coffee maker and the cashier said 'no worries that's just Marvin, he likes the smell.'" 7-Eleven's official Twitter account replied to the tweet, which ultimately garnered over 350,000 likes,[31] asking "Oh no! Can you DM us with the store location you visited so we can check in on Marvin? Thank you!" to which Arnett replied "no way I'm not gonna narc on my buddy."[32] Screengrabs of the exchange have been widely reposted as a classic piece of digital culture and have appeared in the so-called Internet Hall of Fame.[33][34] When a 6 ft (1.8 m) monitor lizard visited a convenience store in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand in 2021 and started climbing up the shelves heading toward the ceiling, the video was posted to Twitter and a user helpfully replied, "That's just Marvin, he likes the smell."[35]

Personal life

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Arnett married Kayla Upadhyaya in 2024.[36]

References

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  1. ^ "'Mostly Dead Things' Author Kristen Arnett On The Weird, Wonderful Magic Of Central Florida". Bustle. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  2. ^ "it's still my birthday, show me your dogs". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  3. ^ "About - kristen arnett". kristenarnett.virb.com. Archived from the original on 2020-05-26. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  4. ^ "Kristen Arnett on Florida, Queerness, and 7-Eleven". PAPER. 2019-06-17. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  5. ^ "Kristen Arnett". Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  6. ^ "Kristen Arnett on How She Got Her Start as a Librarian". Literary Hub. 2019-06-21. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  7. ^ "Lambda's Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices: The 2013 Fellows Reflect | Lambda Literary". 12 September 2013. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  8. ^ Rosen, Louis (June 2, 2016). "Welcome, Kristen Arnett!". Barry Law Library. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  9. ^ a b Boedeker, Hal (May 29, 2019). "Taxidermy enlivens Florida-rich 'Mostly Dead Things'". Orlando Sentinel. I read by the Slurpee machine. I signed books next to the hot dog roller.
  10. ^ "Kristen Arnett". Black Mountain Institute. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  11. ^ "kristen arnett | Literary Hub". Literary Hub. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  12. ^ Press, Alternating Current (December 9, 2017). "2017 Coil Book Award: Kristen N. Arnett's 'Felt in the Jaw'". Medium. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  13. ^ a b Williams, John (August 28, 2017). "Stories and Slurpees". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  14. ^ Cline, Jake. "Review | 'Mostly Dead Things' captures the humor and strangeness of Florida without the easy stereotypes". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  15. ^ Faires, Rosalind (October 23, 2019). "Book Review: Mostly Dead Things". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  16. ^ Masad, Ilana (8 June 2019). "Macabre And Irreverent, 'Mostly Dead Things' Is A Satisfying Journey". NPR. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  17. ^ Desk, The Atlantic Culture (2019-12-24). "The 15 Best Books of 2019". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-06-21. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  18. ^ Canfield, David. "'Mostly Dead Things' is very Florida, very gay, and very good: EW review". EW.com. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  19. ^ Sehgal, Parul (2019-05-28). "'Mostly Dead Things,' a Story of Taxidermy, Love and Grief, With Echoes of Past Literary Heroines". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  20. ^ Waldman, Katy (2 December 2019). "The Best Books of 2019". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  21. ^ Leiding, Reba (June 2019). "Mostly Dead Things". Library Journal. 144 (5): 101 – via EBSCOhost.
  22. ^ "With Teeth by Kristen Arnett: 9780593191521 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  23. ^ Arnett, Kristen N. (July 30, 2018). "The Graveyard Game". Guernica. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  24. ^ "Vol. 301, No. 1, WINTER 2016 of The North American Review on JSTOR". www.jstor.org. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  25. ^ Arnett, Kristen (2019-07-02). "Divide and Conquer". Medium. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  26. ^ "Hand-Operated Shearing Instruments". The Rumpus. October 29, 2013. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  27. ^ "The Queer Erotics of Handholding in Literature". Electric Literature. 2017-04-25. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  28. ^ Arnett, Kristen. "Oh thank heaven, today is 7-Eleven Day". Orlando Weekly. Archived from the original on 2021-02-27. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  29. ^ Speakman, Kimberlee; Schumer, Lizz (August 15, 2024). "Misfits, Mimes and Magicians: Kristen Arnett's New Novel Has It All — and We Have the Cover! (Exclusive)". People.com. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  30. ^ "Stop Me If You've Heard This One by Kristen Arnett: 9780593719770 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  31. ^ "Marvin". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  32. ^ "Woman refuses to snitch on her new buddy: Marvin the 7-Eleven lizard". Mashable. 2018-04-04. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  33. ^ "Internet Hall of Fame". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  34. ^ "People rally behind coffee-loving lizard who is a regular in a Florida convenience shop". Independent.ie. 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  35. ^ West, Phil (2021-04-09). "Giant Lizard Invades 7-Eleven And Becomes Instant Internet Sensation". God. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  36. ^ LaGorce, Tammy (16 February 2024). "Two Writers Craft Their Own Love Story". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
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