Andrea Barrett is an American author born in Boston, MA, whose work centers around historical fiction and women in science. She graduated Union College with a degree in biology, and briefly attended a graduate program in zoology, but never studied English formally. Barrett began teaching fiction seriously in her early 30’s, and gained recognition when her collection Ship Fever won the 1996 U.S National Book Award for Fiction. From there, Barrett received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2001. Her book Servants of the Map was a finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and Archangel was a finalist for the 2013 Story Prize. Barrett’s work has been featured in numerous publications, such as The Paris Review, Tin House, Ploughshares, The American Scholar, and Keyon Review, and her fiction and essays have been selected for awards such as the Best American Short Stories, Best American Science Writing, Best American Essays, and the O. Henry Prize. Barrett teaches at Williams College in Williamsburg, MA, and in the Warren Wilson College M.F.A. Program for Writers in North Carolina. She has been a fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, and has published several novels, including Lucid Stars (1988), The Forms of Water (1993), and The Air We Breathe (2007).
Portrait by Barry Goldstein
