Photo by Jamie Narod ©2004
Mary Kay Zuravleff is the author of two novels, The Bowl Is Already Broken and The Frequency of Souls, both published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

The Bowl Is Already Broken is a love letter to museums, warts and all; critics called it a "highly original, extremely funny, and surprisingly moving novel." The story centers around Promise Whittaker, a Rumi scholar and mother dealt one blow too many. In the first sentence, a precious Chinese bowl tumbles down the marble steps of the Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. As the museum’s reluctant acting director, Promise must contend with the broken bowl on top of her unexpected pregnancy, conniving colleagues, and the fate of the museum.

The Frequency of Souls, which won the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the James Jones First Novel Award, has just been rereleased by Picador. That book follows George Mahoney, a refrigerator designer gone stale, and his new office mate, Niagara Spense. While George considers electricity a useful tool, about as complicated as a hammer, Niagara sees it as a mysterious animating force; in her spare time, Niagara is hoping to locate electrical evidence of life after death.

Many small magazines have published her short fiction. Among those that endure is Gargoyle, and her work is also included in the anthology Grace and Gravity.

Mary Kay currently lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two children. She serves on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.

Enjoy the Brit's rave reviews. Closer to home, there's the author profile from the Washington Post, sweet commentary in the New York Times Book Review, Village Voice, or San Francisco Chronicle. Want more? Scroll down for a veritable bouquet of reviews.
Read guest blogs at The Happy Booker and Work-in-Progress.

Follow the progress of MKZ's novel-in-a-semester class!


In the latest issue of Humanities Magazine, MKZ covers 6,000 years of art, culture, and politics in Afghanistan.


Listen to the Kojo Nnamdi Show from WAMU-FM in Washington, DC, or the Live from Prairie Lights broadcast from WSUI in Iowa City, IA. And did you say you don't have XM Radio?



San Francisco Chronicle praises "this multilayered, erudite novel," while Seattle Times says "Her wit is equal to her wisdom." Eight weeks on bestseller list at Politics & Prose Bookstore.


Newsday: "Zuravleff makes the creative synergies and political infighting behind the scenes at the museum vibrant, and she is equally perceptive on the warmth, whimsy and chaotic exhaustion of family life."

Time Out: "The Bowl Is Already Broken is one of those rare 'novel of ideas' that won't bore you to death."

If that's not enough, there's also the Washington Post online chat or Jonathan Yardley's humble opinion.




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