Chris bohjalian author biography
About Chris Bohjalian
Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 25 books. His 25th book, THE JACKAL’S MISTRESS, arrives on March 11, 2025. He writes literary fiction, historical fiction, thrillers, and (on occasion) ghost stories. His goal is never to write the same book twice. He has published somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.5 million words.
His work has been translated into 35 languages and become three movies (MIDWIVES, SECRETS OF EDEN, and PAST THE BLEACHERS) and an Emmy-winning TV series (THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT). He has two other novels in development for TV series as well.
He is also a playwright, including THE CLUB in 2024; MIDWIVES in 2020; and GROUNDED (now WINGSPAN) in 2018.
His books have been chosen as Best Books of the Year by the Washington Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Hartford Courant, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Bookpage, and Salon.
His awards include the Walter Cerf Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts; the Sarah Josefa Hale Award; the ANCA Freedom Award for his work educating Americans about the Armenian Genocide; the ANCA Arts and Letters Award for THE SANDCASTLE GIRLS, as well as the Saint Mesrob Mashdots Medal; the New England Society Book Award for THE NIGHT STRANGERS; the New England Book Award; Russia’s Soglasie (Concord) Award for THE SANDCASTLE GIRLS; a Boston Public Library Literary Light; a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for TRANS-SISTER RADIO; a Best Lifestyle Column for “Idyll Banter” from the Vermont Press Association; and the Anahid Literary Award. His short story, SLOT MACHINE FEVER DREAMS was a finalist for Best Short Story from the International Thriller Writers Association and the audio production was an Audie Finalist. His novel, MIDWVES was a selection of Oprah’s Book Club, and his novel, HOUR OF THE WITCH, was a Barnes & Noble Book Club pick. He is a Fellow of the Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences. “As much as I love writing (the verb), I probably love writing (the noun) even more. I doubt anyone becomes a serious novelist who doesn’t love reading: savoring paragraphs that precisely capture longing or dread or desire. Being riveted by a plot twist that is utterly surprising but, you realize, perfect, because it was inevitable.” —Chris Bohjalian Critically acclaimed novelist Chris Bohjalian uses his gripping fiction to explore contemporary social issues and how they play out in the lives of ordinary people, as well as to shed light on some of the most important moments in history. His writing delves into such topics as domestic violence, global climate change, gender identity, genocide, adultery, animal rights, adoption, homelessness, mental illness, and human trafficking with equal facility. He is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than two-dozen books, and his work has been translated into over 35 languages. 2025 will see the publication of Bohjalian’s The Jackal’s Mistress, a heart-stopping work of historical fiction based on a largely unknown piece of American Civil War history. It will be the author’s 25th novel. Midwives, an Oprah’s Book Club selection and a #1 New York Times bestseller, was his breakout. It is a contemporary classic whose central questions of individual and societal responsibility remain just as pressing today as when the book was first published. Among Bohjalian’s many standout titles since then have been the New York Times bestsellers Hour of the Witch, The Guest Room, Skeletons at the Feast, and The Sandcastle Gir THE JACKAL’S MISTRESS A Civil War “Romeo and Juliet,” inspired by a true story! An IndieNext pick for March, selected by booksellers across America! The first reviews are in, five raves from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, Library Journal, and the Historical Novel Society! A Most Anticipated Book from Barnes and Noble, Bookbub, and a Washington Post “Book to Watch for in 2025!” “Elegant, poignant, and richly atmospheric. . .Bohjalian once again demonstrates his profound respect for women, endowing his female protagonists with depth and nuance..” — Booklist, Starred Review Chris returns to historical fiction for his 25th book, a tale of Vermonter and a Virginian in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864: A vivid and sweeping story of two people navigating the boundaries of love and humanity in a landscape of brutal violence. The Jackal’s Mistress is a heart-stopping new novel, based on a largely unknown piece of American history. Preorder it today wherever you buy your books. American novelist Chris A. Bohjalian (Armenian: Քրիս Պոհճալեան) is an American novelist and the author of over twenty novels, including Midwives (1997), The Sandcastle Girls (2012), The Guest Room (2016), and The Flight Attendant (2018). Bohjalian's work has been published in over thirty languages, and three of his novels have been adapted into films. Bohjalian's The Flight Attendant has been adapted for a television drama starring Kaley Cuoco. Chris Bohjalian graduated from Amherst Collegesumma cum laude, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. In the mid-1980s, he worked as an account representative for J. Walter Thompson, an ad agency located in New York City. Bohjalian moved with his wife Victoria Blewer to Lincoln, Vermont in 1988. In Lincoln, Bohjalian began writing weekly columns for the local newspaper and magazine about living in the small town, which had a population of about 975 residents. The column ran in The Burlington Free Press from 1992 through 2015 and won a Best Lifestyle Column from the Vermont Press Association. Bohjalian has written for Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest, The New York Times, and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. Bohjalian's first novel, A Killing in the Real World, was released in 1988. His third novel, Past the Bleachers, was released in 1992 and was adapted to a television movie in 1995. In 1997, Bohjalian's fifth novel, Midwives, was released. The novel focuses on the rural Vermont midwife Sibyl Danforth, who becomes embroiled in a legal battle after one of her patients dies following an emergency Caesarean section. The novel was critically acclaimed and was selected by Oprah Winfrey as the October 1998 selection of Oprah's Book Club. It became a #1 bestseller on the New York Times and USA Today. In 2001, the novel was adapt
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Chris Bohjalian
Biography