Curtis Sittenfeld (born 1975) is an American writer and teacher whose first novel, Prep (2005; ISBN 1400062314), a tale about a New England prep school, has been hailed by reviewers for literary, book trade, and women's magazines alike. 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The states of New England are Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. ... A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school (usually abbreviated to preparatory school, college prep school, or prep school) is a private secondary school designed to prepare a student for higher education. ...

Background

Curtis Sittenfeld, who says this photo tells the world "Ninth graders, your Macbeth papers are due on Friday."

Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the second of four children (three girls and a boy) of Paul G., an investment adviser, and Elizabeth (Curtis) Sittenfeld, an art teacher at the Seven Hills School, a private school in Cincinnati. Her brother, P.G. Sittenfeld, was a regular contributor to the editorial page of The Cincinnati Enquirer. This is a copyrighted promotional photo with a known source. ... This is a copyrighted promotional photo with a known source. ... Nickname The Queen City Location Location in Hamilton County, Ohio Government Country State County United States Ohio Hamilton Mayor Mark L. Mallory (D) Geographical characteristics Area  - Total  - Land  - Water 206. ... Cincinnati Enquirer headquarters building at 312 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. ...

She grew up in the Walnut Hills section of Cincinnati. She attended the Seven Hills School through the eighth grade, then attended high school at the Groton School, a boarding school in Groton, Massachusetts, graduating in 1993. In 1992, the summer before her senior year, she won Seventeen magazine's fiction contest. She attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York before transferring to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. At Stanford, she studied Creative Writing, wrote articles for the college newspaper, and edited that paper's weekly arts magazine. At the time, she was also chosen as one of Glamour magazine's College Women of the Year. After receiving her B.A., she moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where she wrote for The Charlotte Observer. Soon, she moved to Boston to work for Fast Company magazine, for which she'd continue to write even after she moved to the Midwest to attend the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. In 1998, she won The Mississippi Review 's fiction contest. She previously taught freshman English at the St. Albans School in Washington, D.C. as the Writer in Residence. Groton School is a private Episcopalian boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. ... A boarding school is a school where some or all students not only study but also live, amongst their peers but away from their home and family. ... Seal of Groton, MA NIGGERS NOT ALLOWED ONLY FAT WHITE HONEKYS WITH $$$ Groton is a town located in northwestern Middlesex County, Massachusetts. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Alexis Bledel on the cover of Seventeen with Lauren Graham Seventeen is a U.S. young womens magazine targeted at the teenage group. ... Closeup of the Vassar Main Building Vassar College is a highly selective, private, coeducational liberal arts college situated in Poughkeepsie, New York. ... Poughkeepsie City of Poughkeepsie Town of Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie, Arkansas This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University (or simply Stanford), is a private university located approximately 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco in an [1] of Santa Clara County. ... Official website: http://www. ... A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B., from the Latin Artium Baccalaureus) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... Fast Company is a 1979 film by Canadian director David Cronenberg. ... The Program in Creative Writing, known more commonly as the Iowa Writers Workshop, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa is a college and graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. ... The University of Iowa is a major national research university located on a 1,900-acre campus in Iowa City, Iowa, USA, on the Iowa River in East Central Iowa. ... Old Capitol Building in February 2005 Iowa City is a city located in Johnson County, Iowa, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 62,220, making it the sixth largest city in Iowa. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... St. ... Nickname: the District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Official website: http://www. ...

Curtis Sittenfeld told The Cincinnati Enquirer in 2005 that it is unlikely she will return to her hometown. "I see myself in a bigger city or a college town, a place smaller than Cincinnati. I loved living in Iowa City," she said, despite the absence of Graeter's ice cream, a Queen City staple. In The New York Times Book Review she lamented that she was not likely to have literary groupies, as the photo on her dust jacket "suggests less 'Let's have a drink after the reading' and more 'Ninth graders, your Macbeth papers are due on Friday." The Cincinnati Enquirer is a daily morning newspaper published at Cincinnati, Ohio. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Her articles have appeared in Teen People, People Weekly, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Salon, and Real Simple. She has also written for the public radio program This American Life. People, a weekly magazine of celebrity and popular culture news, debuted in 1974. ... People is a weekly American magazine of celebrity and popular culture news. ... The New York Times is a newspaper published in New York City by Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. ... The Washington Post is the largest and oldest newspaper in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. ... Screenshot of Salon. ... An Issue of Real Simple Real Simple is a monthly womens interest magazine published by Time Publishing Ventures. ... Public broadcasting (also known as public service broadcasting or PSB) is the dominant form of broadcasting around the world, where radio, television, and potentially other electronic media outlets receive funding from the public. ... This American Life (TAL) is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ in Chicago and distributed by Public Radio International. ...

The jacket of her novel Prep.

This image is a book cover. ... This image is a book cover. ...

Prep

Her novel, which took her three years to write, concerns a girl from South Bend, Indiana, who goes to a boarding school near Boston, Massachusetts. Prep was saluted for its verisimilitude, Elissa Schappell writing in The New York Times Book Review [1] that "Sittenfeld's dialogue is so convincing that one wonders if she didn't wear a wire under her hockey kilt." Publisher's Weekly wrote, "The book meanders on its way, light on plot but saturated with heartbreaking humor and written in clean prose. Sittenfeld . . . proves herself a natural in this poignant, truthful book." South Bend is a city located in St. ... Nickname: City on a Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Solar System), Athens of America Official website: www. ... Publishers Weekly is a weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. ...

The book has been optioned by Paramount Pictures, which also has an unrelated project with the same name, under its MTV Films umbrella.

The Man of My Dreams

Sittenfeld's second novel, called The Man of My Dreams, was published in May 2006 by Random House. It follows a girl named Hannah from the end of her 8th grade year through her college years at Tufts University and into her late twenties. [2] Random House is a publishing division of the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann based in New York City. ... Tufts University is a private university located in Medford, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. ...

External links

• Curtis Sittenfeld's official website
• Summary of reviews by Metacritic
• Comments on Sittenfeld on Gawker.com
• Tingle Alley blog discussion of book
• Bookreporter.com review

References

Articles about Sittenfeld

• Kimberly Maul. Q&A With Curtis Sittenfeld at The Book Standard. April 18, 2006.
• Reon Carter. "Local college senior makes Glamour's top 10". The Cincinnati Enquirer. September 21, 1996. C2.
• Rory Evans. "Cincinnati Kid: Curtis Sittenfeld". Cincinnati Magazine. January 2005. 66+.
• "Glamour's top 10 college women 1996". Glamour. v. 94, n. 10. October 1996. 108.
• Felicia R. Lee. "Although She Wrote What She Knew, She Says She Isn't What She Wrote". New York Times. January 26, 2005. B3.
• Sara Pearce. "'Prep' author visits hometown to chat". The Cincinnati Enquirer. February 15, 2005. E1.
• Curtis Sittenfeld. "You Can't Get a Man With a Pen". The New York Times Book Review. December 19, 2004. 35.
• Hank Stuever. "Move Over, Holden: Curtis Sittenfeld Writes About Boarding School Life as if She's Been There". The Washington Post. February 23, 2005. C1.

Reviews of Sittenfeld's book
The Cincinnati Enquirer is a daily morning newspaper published at Cincinnati, Ohio. ... September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Cincinnati Enquirer is a daily morning newspaper published at Cincinnati, Ohio. ... February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Washington Post is the largest and oldest newspaper in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. ... February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• Carlene Bauer. "Swimming With the School". ELLE. v. 20, n. 5. January 2005. 56.
• Elaine Bender. Review of Prep. Library Journal. v. 129, n. 20. December 15, 2004. 103.
• Jesse Berrett. "The dreams and dreads of the teenage years". The San Francisco Chronicle. January 23, 2005.
• Tiffany Blackstone and Daryl Chen. "Too true novels". Glamour. v. 103, n. 1. January 2005. 87.
• Michael Carr. Review of Prep. Booklist. v. 101, n. 8. December 15, 2004. 709.
• Eleni Gage. "It Prepares You for Life, But What Prepares You for Prep School?". The New York Sun. January 19, 2005.
• Caitlin Macy. "School Ties". The Washington Post. January 23, 2005. T7.
• Review of Prep. Kirkus Reviews. v. 72, n. 22. November 15, 2004. 1067.
• Review of The Man of My Dreams. Kirkus Reviews. March 15, 2006.
• Review of Prep. The New Yorker. February 7, 2005.
• Review of Prep. Publisher's Weekly. v. 251, n. 44. November 1, 2004. 41.
• Daniel Asa Rose. "Gimlet Eyed Girl Grows Up". New York Observer. January 17, 2005. 9.
• Elissa Schappell. "Class Act". The New York Times Book Review January 16, 2005.
• Steven Weinberg. "Superb writing is the edge for coming of age novel". The Plain Dealer. January 23, 2005. J10.