My Last Story (Electric Literature's Recommended Reading)

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"Where does the need to make up a story come from?" asks acclaimed author Etgar Keret and guest editor of this edition of Recommended Reading. Here, in his introduction to "My Last Story", Keret explains how Janet Frame's writing saved her from a lobotomy.

About Recommended Reading:
Great authors inspire us. But what about the stories that inspire them? Recommended Reading, the latest project from Electric Literature, publishes one story every week, each chosen by a great author or editor. In this age of distraction, we uncover writing that's worth slowing down and spending some time with. And in doing so, we help give great writers, literary magazines, and independent presses the recognition they deserve.

About the Author:
Janet Frame was once of New Zealand's most distinguished writers. A novelist, short-story writer, and poet, she is best known for An Angel at My Table, which the Sunday Times of London called "one of the great autobiographies written in the twentieth century," and inspired Jane Campion's internationally acclaimed film. Following a suicide attempt, Frame spent eight years in mental institutions, where she received of electroshock treatments for a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia. Her first book, The Lagoon and Other Stories, won the prestigious Hubert Church Award, convincing her doctors not to carry out a scheduled lobotomy. Throughout her long career, Frame received a wide range of awards. They include every literary prize for which she was eligible in New Zealand, honorary membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Literature.

About the Guest Editor:
Etgar Keret is an internationally acclaimed Israeli writer. In 2007, Keret and Shira Gefen won the Cannes Film Festival`s “Camera d`Or” Award for their movie Jellyfish. In 2010, Keret was honored in France with the decoration of Chevalier de l`Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His books have been published abroad in more than thirty languages. Keret’s latest collection of stories Suddenly a Knock on the Door was published by FSG in March, 2012.