Julie Schumacher

Julie Schumacher is the author of a dozen books, including the national best-seller, Dear Committee Members, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor. She is the first woman to have won the Thurber Prize. She recently published her second story collection, Patient, Female (Milkweed Editions, 2026). Schumacher’s first published story, “Reunion,” was written to fulfill an undergraduate writing assignment (“tell a family tale”); it was reprinted in The Best American Short Stories 1983. Subsequent stories and essays were published in The Atlantic, The New York Times, MS, The Chronicle for Higher Education, Prize Stories: The O.Henry Awards, and other venues. Her first novel, The Body Is Water, was an ALA Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. She has also published five novels for young adults and a satirical coloring book, Doodling for Academics.