Photo: kellywritershouse / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Davis is a writer's writer in the best sense, someone who can fit an entire emotional world into two sentences and make you reread it five times. Her flash fiction redefined how short a story could be while still landing like a punch, and I find that economy almost addictive. Then there's the translation work, her Madame Bovary and Swann's Way are the versions I actually recommend to people. She has this cool, surgical precision that never feels cold; underneath is real wit and ache. Winning the Man Booker International for that body of work felt like the literary world finally catching up to what her readers already knew.
Overview
Lydia Davis (born July 15, 1947) is an American writer, translator, and educator known for her exceptionally short, precise works of fiction. She has translated major French literature, including acclaimed new English versions of Marcel Proust's Swann's Way and Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Davis received the Man Booker International Prize in 2013, a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003, and was named a Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Lydia Davis
- Name (Japanese)
- リディア・デイヴィス
- Reading
- りでぃあ・でいゔぃす
- Born
- July 15, 1947 (age 78)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Pig
- Origin
- Northampton, Massachusetts, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- Linguist / Translator / Author / University lecturer / Novelist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2013 Man Booker International Prize
- 1997 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 2003 MacArthur Fellowship
- Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters
- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Linguist — see all → · Translator — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.