Molly Antopol biography

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Molly Antopol
Photo: Debbi Cooper

Molly Antopol

How to pronounce Molly Antopol: ANT-uh-pole. Like the word "ant" followed by "uh" and "pole."

Molly Antopol Biography

Molly Antopol teaches writing at Stanford University, where she was a recent Wallace Stegner Fellow. A recipient of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 award, she holds an MFA from Columbia University and lives in San Francisco.

Molly Antopol's website

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Interview

A Q&A with Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans, a collection of stories that move from McCarthy-era America to modern-day Israel to communist Europe and back again.

Your stories move from McCarthy-era America to modern-day Israel to communist Europe and back again. What's your connection to these times and places?
Many of the stories in this book were inspired by my family history, notably their involvement in the Communist Party. I come from a big family of storytellers, and I grew up surrounded by tales of surveillance, tapped lines and dinnertime visits from the FBI. Those things—combined with my very nerdy love of research and library archives—informed my McCarthy-era stories.

In terms of the Israel stories, I've spent my entire adult life going back and forth between there and the U.S. I lived there for years—I used to work for a Palestinian-Israeli human rights group, and at a youth village aiding new immigrants from Chechnya, Ethiopia, and the former Soviet Union. And for the past seven years, since being on Stanford's academic schedule, I've spent my summers there.

Eastern Europe is a part of the world that's always fascinated me. My family's originally from there, many of my favorite books were written in (and about) communist-era Europe, and in recent years I've been lucky enough to have received writing/research grants to...

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Books by this Author

Books by Molly Antopol at BookBrowse
The UnAmericans jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Molly Antopol but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977. She is from Abba, in Anambra State, but grew up in the university town of Nsukka where she attended primary and secondary schools and briefly studied Medicine and ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The UnAmericans

    Try:
    Americanah
    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

  • Edwidge Danticat

    Edwidge Danticat

    Since the publication of her debut work Breath, Eyes, Memory in 1994, Edwidge Danticat has won praise as one of America's brightest, most graceful and vibrant young writers. In this novel, and in her National Book ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The UnAmericans

    Try:
    Claire of the Sea Light
    by Edwidge Danticat

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