Sheila Heti

Sheila Heti is an acclaimed author of five books. Her latest work, How Should a Person Be?—a “novel from life” about friendship, art, and much else—has struck a chord with a young generation of women and men, for whom this “original, and nearly unclassifiable book” (New York Times) is a kind of touchstone for what it means to live in the early 21st Century.

Heti's How Should a Person Be? has sparked exuberant conversations, inspired countless think-pieces, and garnered positive reviews. In early 2013, Heti was nominated by TIME magazine for its TIME 100, a list of the most influential people on the planet; the magazine called HSAPB “among the most-talked-about books of 2012.” Before that, Heti wrote four critically acclaimed books, in as many genres. Her body of work includes The Middle Stories, a collection of short stories; Ticknor, a novel; We Need a Horse, an illustrated book for children, featuring art by Clare Rojas; and The Chairs Are Where the People Go, a book of “conversational philosophy,” co-written with Misha Glouberman, which was named as one of the Best Books of 2011 by The New Yorker.

Heti works as Interviews Editor at The Believer, and has contributed many interviews with writers and artists to the magazine. In 2001, she created Trampoline Hall, a non-expert lecture series hosted by Misha Glouberman, that runs monthly in Toronto, and which has sold out every show since its inception. Heti “stars” in photographs as Lenore Doolan in Leanne Shapton’s book-as-auction catalogue, Important Artifacts…, which has been optioned for film. She also appears in Margaux Williamson’s film Teenager Hamlet, and with her runs The Production Front, which puts on shows and promotes the work of other artists.

Heti’s writing has also appeared in The London Review of Books, The Guardian, n+1, McSweeney’s, Bookforum, The New York Times, and other places, and her work has been translated into nine languages. She studied playwriting at the National Theatre School, in Montreal, before attending the University of Toronto to study art history and philosophy. She lives in Toronto.