Ottessa Moshfegh

Ottessa Moshfegh is an American novelist and screenwriter known for her unflinching portraits of alienated women. Her debut novel, Eileen (2015), won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and became a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Moshfegh followed with the darkly comic My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018), a bestseller that established her reputation for sharp, unsettling prose. She later published the novella Death in Her Hands (2020) and the medieval fable Lapvona (2022). In addition to fiction, she co-wrote the screenplay for the 2023 film adaptation of Eileen. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages. Moshfegh lives in Southern California and runs a Substack newsletter. She continues to write fiction and essays, and her work has achieved cult status among readers. [edit]

Moshfegh grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, in a household of professional musicians. Her parents, both violinists, fled Iran during the 1978 revolution and settled in Boston, teaching at the New England Conservatory. She learned piano and clarinet as a child and initially pursued music. At age 14, a summer creative-writing course shifted her focus to writing. She attended the Commonwealth School in Boston. After earning a BA in English from Barnard College in 2002, she moved to China, teaching English and working in a punk bar. In her mid-twenties, she returned to New York City, working for Overlook Press and as an assistant to editor Jean Stein. Contracting cat-scratch fever prompted her to leave the city and pursue an MFA at Brown University, which she completed in 2011. During those years, she supported herself by selling vintage clothing. From 2013 to 2015, she was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in fiction at Stanford University, where she wrote her debut novel Eileen. She wrote Eileen as a joke following a 90-day novel-writing guide, intending to show how easy it was. Her writing was influenced by Gordon Lish's consecution and swerve technique. She credits Looney Tunes' Bugs Bunny for establishing her comedic rhythm. [edit]

Moshfegh's breakthrough came in 2015 with the publication of Eileen. The novel won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and became a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She had already won the Fence Modern Prize in Prose and the Believer Book Award for her 2011 novella McGlue, and in 2013 she received the Plimpton Prize from The Paris Review. In 2018, she published My Year of Rest and Relaxation, a New York Times bestseller that became a cultural phenomenon. She followed with Death in Her Hands (2020) and Lapvona (2022). In 2023, she co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Eileen, directed by William Oldroyd and starring Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway. She also published the short story collection Homesick for Another World in 2017. Moshfegh has won a Pushcart Prize and an O. Henry Award for her short fiction, and received a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in 2013. [edit]

Moshfegh is known for unflinching, darkly comic portraits of alienated, often unlikeable women. Her prose is gritty, deadpan, and uncompromisingly honest. The media frequently describes her as a literary provocateur and millennial icon, and her work is often categorized as misery lit or sad girl literature, though she resists these labels. My Year of Rest and Relaxation has achieved cult status among readers. Moshfegh maintains a minimal public social media presence, primarily communicating through her Substack newsletter, which adds to her enigmatic persona. She has been featured in interviews and profiles in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Granta, The Guardian, and Vogue. [edit]

Ottessa Moshfegh commands a readership defined by literary devotion rather than the frenzied mobilization typical of pop culture icons. Her audience consists primarily of critics, academics, and enthusiasts of high fiction who engage with her uncompromisingly dark narratives without the ritualistic fervor seen in mass-market fandoms. There is no documented name for her fanbase, nor are there organized campaigns, birthday billboards, or street-shutting events associated with her public appearances. The narrative surrounding her remains rooted in the critical reception of her novels and the specific, often unsettling psychological landscapes she constructs. While recent developments such as the split from Luke Goebel and discussions regarding new endings to her work have generated news cycles, these remain professional milestones rather than viral legends that have reshaped her public mythology. iFANN has evaluated her global standing with rigorous neutrality. Ottessa Moshfegh is currently not ranked in the Global Top 1,000. She does not hold a placement in any Top-100 scope list. This absence of a numerical ranking reflects her status as an author whose influence permeates literary circles without generating the broad, quantifiable consumption signals required for entry into the published rankings.[edit]

Born on May 20, 1981, in Boston, Massachusetts, Moshfegh supported herself through eclectic means including selling vintage tea dresses and working at a punk bar in China. Her approach to novel writing began as a satirical experiment at Stanford University; she purchased The 90-Day Novel by Alan Watt and attempted to follow its instructions until day 60, a process that yielded her debut novel Eileen. Her short fiction has garnered a Pushcart Prize and an O. Henry Award, and she received a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in 2013. During her MFA studies, she taught undergraduates at Brown University. In August 2026, the literary world noted the release of her essay My Year of Tests and Arbitration, which coincided with media discussions about a Florida professor's firing linked to her involvement in academic controversies. That same month, she participated in a conversation with Patty Cottrell, further cementing her role as a serious interlocutor in contemporary letters. Her Substack newsletter, ottessathisottessathat.substack.com, serves as a primary channel for direct communication with her readers.[edit]

Moshfegh is the middle of three children. Her mother, Dubravka Sajfar Moshfegh, is a Croatian violist, and her father, Farhoud Moshfegh, is an Iranian Jewish violinist. Her parents met at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, married in 1975, and lived in Tehran until the Iranian Revolution forced them to flee to the United States in 1978. They settled in Boston, teaching at the New England Conservatory of Music, and later moved to Newton, Massachusetts. Moshfegh's parents were both professional musicians who fled Iran during the 1978 revolution. She has two siblings. As a child, she was exposed to classical music in utero and began solfège lessons at age six. Her early television influences included Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, and Looney Tunes. [edit]

Moshfegh is married to writer and editor Luke Goebel. She collaborated with director William Oldroyd on the 2023 film adaptation of Eileen, which starred Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway. She previously worked as an assistant to editor Jean Stein. Her writing was influenced by editor Gordon Lish. [edit]

Moshfegh is married to writer and editor Luke Goebel. The couple lives together in Southern California. No public records of prior romantic relationships exist. Moshfegh is notably private about her personal life. As of 2026, she remains married to Goebel, with no known children. She has referred to Goebel in interviews as her husband. [edit]

Per iFANN's editorial analysis, Ottessa Moshfegh's net worth in 2026 stands at $1.5 Million. This valuation reflects earnings derived primarily from book advances and royalties for her major works including Eileen, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Death in Her Hands, and Lapvona. Additional income streams include her co-writing credit on the 2023 film adaptation of Eileen and revenue generated by her Substack newsletter. Occasional teaching engagements and publications of short stories and essays in outlets such as The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Granta contribute to her financial portfolio. The translation of her work into over twenty languages continues to provide ongoing royalty streams that support this estimated total.[edit]

Moshfegh won the PEN/Hemingway Award for her debut novel Eileen (2016). Her novella McGlue received the Fence Modern Prize in Prose and the Believer Book Award. She has also won the Plimpton Discovery Prize, a Pushcart Prize, an O. Henry Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. [edit]