Lydia Davis

Lydia Davis is an American short story writer, novelist and translator widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential writers of contemporary fiction. Her collection Can't and Won't exemplifies her distinctive approach to the short story form, featuring pieces that range from traditional narratives to single-sentence observations, dreams, letters and fragments. Davis has been awarded the Man Booker International Prize and a MacArthur Fellowship, and her work has influenced a generation of writers exploring the boundaries of what fiction can be. She is also one of the most accomplished literary translators working in English, with celebrated translations of Proust, Flaubert and other French writers. Her stories are characterised by extreme precision of language, psychological acuity and a willingness to find narrative meaning in the smallest details of everyday life. Davis teaches at the University at Albany and has been recognised with virtually every major award available to American short fiction writers. Her audiobooks bring her unique, compressed storytelling to listeners who appreciate fiction that challenges conventional ideas about narrative form and length.