Rapp, Emily 1974(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1974, in NE. Education: St. Olaf's College, B.A.; Harvard University Divinity School, M.T.S.; University of Texas at Austin, M.F.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—CA. Agent—Esther Newberg, ICM, 10250 Constellation Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90067. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Previously served at Bucknell University, Lewisberg, PA, as Philip Roth Writer-in-Residence; Antioch University, Los Angeles, CA, professor in the M.F.A. program.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Former Fulbright Scholar; won the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award for emerging women writers; holds awards or fellowships from Atlantic Monthly, StoryQuarterly, the Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation, the Jentel Arts Foundation, the Corporation of Yaddo, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.

WRITINGS:

Poster Child: A Memoir, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals including Cimarron Review, Clackamas Literary Review, Silent Voices, Terminus, Sun, Texas Observer, Segue, and StoryQuarterly.

SIDELIGHTS:

Emily Rapp was born with a congenital defect that caused her left foot to be amputated when she was just four years old, leaving her to wear a prosthetic limb. Rapp went on to have a successful academic career, even winning a Fulbright Scholarship. She earned her undergraduate degree from St. Olaf's College, an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School, and an M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow and studied both fiction and poetry. Rapp teaches in the M.F.A. program at Antioch University in Los Angeles, and her own writing has appeared in numerous periodicals, including Cimarron Review, Silent Voices, StoryQuarterly, and the Sun. Rapp's first book, Poster Child: A Memoir, recalls her experience with her prosthetic when she was a child. She recalls that new limb made her feel special at first, and she was soon singled out to be a poster child for the March of Dimes. Rapp pushed herself to succeed and excel despite being different. Yet as she grew older and discovered that the prosthetic was not quite as fashionable and attractive as what other girls had to offer, she became concerned with how others, especially boys, perceived her. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews called the book "a spiritual memoir of the movement from childhood pieties to adult faith and a confession that will resonate." In a review for the Washington Post, Carolyn See wrote that Rapp's effort "beautifully illustrates every human being's struggle against the intractability of our own physical condition."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Rapp, Emily, Poster Child: A Memoir, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2007.

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2006, review of Poster Child, p. 891.

Library Journal, October 1, 2006, Dorris Douglass, review of Poster Child, p. 95.

Publishers Weekly, September 25, 2005, "Jaffe Winners," p. 4; October 9, 2006, review of Poster Child, p. 44.

Washington Post, February 18, 2007, Carolyn See, review of Poster Child.

ONLINE

Antioch University Web site,http://www.antiochla.edu/ (April 7, 2007), faculty biography.

Bloomsbury Web site,http://www.bloomsburyusa.com/ (April 7, 2007), author biography.

Boulder Daily Camera Online,http://www.dailycamera.com/ (February 11, 2007), Anna Stewart, review of Poster Child.

Emily Rapp Home Page,http://www.emilyrapp.com (April 7, 2007).

Los Angeles Times Online,http://www.calendarlive.com/books/ (January 28, 2007), Donna Seaman, review of Poster Child.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Online,http://www.sunsentinel.com/ (February 11, 2007), Donna Minkowitz, review of Poster Child.