We had a huge response to our request for the names of writers you thought were unjustly underrated. Here are my favorite fifteen from among your suggestions, listed in alphabetical order (why rank them any other way). You may not agree with my favorites, but that’s ok–you can post your own fifteen on the Internet too. To see the long list of 60 writers that PWxyz readers submitted, click past the break.
Now all that’s left to do is give these writers their due–go buy their books, talk ‘em up to your friends and enemies, and make them the literary titans they deserve to be!
Here are the top 15 Underrated Writers According to PWxyz (in alphabetical order)
- Donald Antrim
- Jo Ann Beard
- Anthony Doerr
- Deborah Eisenberg
- Stephen Elliott
- Steve Erickson
- Brian Evenson
- Percival Everett
- Mary Gaitskill
- Tessa Hadley
- Kelly Link
- Sam Lipsyte
- Lydia Millet
- Christine Schutt
- Matthew Sharpe
Those are my favorite fifteen, and a worthy bunch they are. Here’s almost all the writers that readers submitted:
The long list:
- Lee K. Abbott
- Donald Antrim
- Jo Ann Beard
- Lucia Berlin
- Susan Choi
- Jonathan Dee
- Samuel R. Delany
- Anthony Doerr
- Rikki Doucornet
- Brandon Downing
- Samantha Dunn
- Jennifer Egan
- Deborah Eisenberg
- Stephen Elliott
- Carol Emshwiller
- Steve Erickson
- Brian Evenson
- Percival Everett
- Tom Fahy
- Richard Ford
- Sesshu Foster
- Mary Gaitskill
- Christine Garren
- David Gates
- Tim Gautreaux
- Rigoberto Gonzalez
- John Green
- Tessa Hadley
- Donald Harington
- Siri Hustveldt
- Marlon James
- Michael Kimball
- Victor Lavalle
- Tao Lin
- Kelly Link
- Sam Lipsyte
- Robert Lopez
- David Means
- Lydia Millet
- Christopher Moore
- Achy Obejas
- Tawni O’Dell
- Rachel Resnick
- Jean Rhys
- James Sallis
- James Salter
- Christine Schutt
- Matthew Sharpe
- Lionel Shriver
- Sarah Shulman
- Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
- Joan Silber
- Scott Simon
- Sherwood Smith
- Cheryl Strayed
- Cheryl Strayed
- Scarlett Thomas
- Melanie Rae Thon
- Diane Williams
- Stephen Wright
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My wonderful colleague at Washington University shouldn’t be overlooked:
Caryl Phillip’s a fine writer.
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Agree, heartily, re Dana Hand. DEEP CREEK is excellent, and the authors (historian and journalist, female and male) know exactly what they’re doing; a highly self-aware, historically-responsible novel that’s also a very moving read.
I came to it via the rave review by Carolyn See in the ‘Washington Post’ and continue to recommend DC to library clients all the time; my guess is that it is a classic in the making, because word of mouth and holds are keeping this one going. Take a look at the website: http://www.dana-hand.com/
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Silas House. Sheer bliss.
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Carol Emshwiller–yes! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
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Now we need to know the difference between the level of work of the fifteen mediocrities classified as “underrated” and the fifteen classified as “overrated.”
Reading Martha C. Nussbaum’s books, “Sex and Social Justice” and “Women and Human Development,” changed my life. In the intervening years, she written a number of other influential books, all of them worthwhile reading, especially for a novice like me. When I’m finished reading, “The Therapy of Desire,” I look forward to reading, “Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership,” timely topics in America these days. Thanks for the list!
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Maybe the list should read “underREAD,” not underrated. Rigoberto Gonzalez and Achy Obejas are, um, not underrated. So there!
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