Hester Kaplan

Award-Winning Writer

the author of UNRAVISHED, THE TELL,  THE EDGE OF MARRIAGE , winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and KINSHIP THEORY. Her stories and non-fiction have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies.

Unravished

Masterfully written and emotionally packed, these stories seduce and startle, and remind us of the shifting ways we choose to narrate our own lives.

The Tell

“Author of two novels and winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, Kaplan delivers an exceptional collection with beautifully rendered stories for and about grown-ups. The second wife of a bombastic older man fends off neighbors distraught by his building plans, which could hurt the environment (and maybe the neighborhood?); a man plays father to his girlfriend’s son at the circus. VERDICT For readers, not just short story fans, who like fiction focusing smartly on contemporary adult relationships.” ~ From Library Journal, Top Indie Fiction Pick

Announcements & News

Award-Winning Writer

Recent awards include the Salamander Fiction Prize, the McGinnis Ritchie Award for Non-Fiction, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Recent Publications

Unravished

Masterfully written and emotionally packed, these stories seduce and startle, and remind us of the shifting ways we choose to narrate our own lives.

 

The Tell

Mira and Owen’s marriage is less stable than they know when Wilton Deere, an aging, no longer famous TV star, moves in to the grand house next door.

 

Kinship Theory

“Who better than a mother to do it? It’s just reversing the natural order a bit.” That’s how Dale explains to her mother that she wants her to bear the child Dale herself cannot have.

 

See all Hester Kaplan's Books

ALL PUBLICATIONS

Acclaim for Hester Kaplan’s Recent Publications

Unravished

“These are stories for grownups, stories about those who find themselves ravaged–or maybe ravished is a better word– stories for those of us who feel ravished by time, by love, by loss, by the improvisatory nature of making-do. Hester Kaplan touches all the ache and anger we feel to life.”
William Lychack

Author of The Architect of Flowers

The Tell

“Hester Kaplan brings such fresh language and uncanny insight to whatever her keen eye lands upon, it’s as if she creates it anew. Everything, everyone, every inflection in The Tell is charged with precision, feeling, and consequence.”
Leah Hager Cohen

Author of The Grief of Others

Kinship Theory

“Kaplan’s story refuses to hew to formula….She writes about Maggie’s most intimate moments and her most mundane with an attention to detail that is overwhelming….The minutiae are more than matched by the drama that determines which mother ends up with custody of Lily, the baby. The surprising denouement is both rewarding and revelatory.”
Dana Kennedy

New York Times Book Review

UNRAVISHED

a new collection of stories, from Ig Publishing:

Masterfully written and emotionally packed, the stories that make up Unravished, the new collection from award-winning author Hester Kaplan, seduce and startle, and remind us of the shifting ways we choose to narrate our own lives.

 

Praise for Unravished

Top Indie Fiction by Library Journal

 “Kaplan delivers an exceptional collection with beautifully rendered stories for and about grown-ups. The second wife of a bombastic older man fends off neighbors distraught by his building plans, which could hurt the environment (and maybe the neighborhood?); a man plays father to his girlfriend’s son at the circus.  For readers, not just short story fans, who like fiction focusing smartly on contemporary adult relationships.” ~ Library Journal

Interviews, Reviews, & Multimedia

THE PROVIDENCE PHOENIX: Hester Kaplan’s The Tell is captivating

THE PROVIDENCE PHOENIX: Hester Kaplan’s The Tell is captivating

In her first novel in 10 years, The Tell (Harper Perennial), Providence writer and educator Hester Kaplan tackles the familiar territory of marriage and relationships she has previously explored in the award-winning short story collection, The Edge of Marriage (1999), and her novel, Kinship Theory (2001).

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Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb

Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb

Hester Kaplan is the author of the new short story collectionUnravished. She also has writtenanother story collection, The Edge of Marriage, and two novels, The Tell and Kinship Theory. She teaches at Lesley University, and she lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

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Femamom: An Interview With Hester Kaplan, The Author Of “The Tell”

Femamom: An Interview With Hester Kaplan, The Author Of “The Tell”

Hester Kaplan writes about marriage. Whether it’s stories about couples trying to figure out where they stand in a relationship with her award-winning The Edge of Marriage or most recently, with her new novel,The Tell, she writes about nuances that exist under the surface–the kind that make you question your own relationship after you’ve read her work.

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Contact Hester

Please contact me below for details if you’d like more information on classes, workshops, or one-on-one consultation, development, and editing.

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