Conversation with the American writer Hanya Yanagihara (b. 1975 in Los Angeles), the author of A Little Life and The People in the Trees. Interview: Ruth Joos.

With her second novel, A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara conquered the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers and made the shortlist of both the National Book Award and the Man Booker Prize. Reviewers called the book ‘The great gay novel’ and showered it with positive reviews.

In A Little Life, four friends from college are each making their way in New York: the charming actor Willem, the eccentric artist JB, the talented architect Malcolm, and the lawyer Jude St Francis. The latter plays a central role in the group of friends and in the story. Taken into a monastery as a foundling, he then ended up in youth welfare before making it where he is now after countless peregrinations and a serious accident. Successful in his career, but suffering from a limp and prone to all-consuming attacks of pain. Yanagihara reveals Jude’s secrets across the years, across the decades, as friendships shift, become muddied, grow deeper.

Hanya Yanagihara grew up in Hawaii and Texas. After her studies Yanagihara worked for a long time as a travel journalist. Since 2015 she has been a deputy editor at T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

Interview in The Guardian.

Elif Batuman about A Little Life in The New Yorker.

Flagey, Passa Porta, Uitgeverij Nieuw Amsterdam