Kristen Arnett

Kristen Arnett
Arnett at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born (1980-12-16) December 16, 1980
Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Alma materRollins College (BA)
Florida State University (MS)
OccupationsLibrarian, writer

Kristen Arnett (born December 16, 1980)[1][2] is an American fiction author and essayist. Her debut novel, Mostly Dead Things, was a New York Times bestseller.[3]

Early life and education

Arnett was born and raised in Orlando, Florida, where she attended Winter Park High School.[4][5][6] She graduated from Rollins College with a bachelor's degree in English and received her master's degree in library and information science from Florida State University. Arnett was a fellow in the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices in 2013.[7]

Career

Arnett was a librarian at Rollins College and the Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law at Barry University.[8][9] She is a columnist for Literary Hub[10] and was selected as a Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute for the spring 2020 semester.[11]

Writing

Her first collection of short fiction, Felt in the Jaw, was published by Split Lip Press and received the 2017 Coil Book Award.[12] Arnett is a self-described "7-Eleven scholar"[9] and celebrated the debut of Felt in the Jaw at a 7-Eleven store in Orlando.[13] The short story collection focuses on living as a lesbian in Florida.[13]

Arnett's debut novel, Mostly Dead Things, which was published by Tin House in June 2019, was a New York Times bestseller and received critical acclaim.[14][15][16][17][18] The novel was heralded by literary critic Parul Sehgal as her "song of the summer"[19] and by The New Yorker's book critic Katy Waldman as one of the best books of 2019.[20] The book features an openly lesbian main character who runs her family's taxidermy shop after her father dies by suicide.[21]

Arnett's novel, With Teeth, was published by Penguin Random House in 2022.[22]

Arnett's stories have appeared in online and print publications including Guernica,[23] North American Review,[24] Oprah Daily,[25] and Gay Magazine.[26] Her essays have been published in various venues including The Rumpus,[27] Electric Literature,[28] and Orlando Weekly.[29]

Arnett's third novel, Stop Me If You've Heard This One, was published in March 2025 by Riverhead Books.[30][31][32][33] It was shortlisted for the Published Novels category of the 2025 Comedy Women in Print Prize.[34]

Personal life

Arnett married Kayla Upadhyaya in 2024.[35]

"Marvin" tweet

In 2018, Arnett tweeted, "This morning at 7-eleven I saw a lizard next to the coffee maker and the cashier said 'no worries that's just Marvin, he likes the smell.'" 7-Eleven's official Twitter account replied to the tweet, which ultimately garnered over 300,000 likes,[36] asking "Oh no! Can you DM us with the store location you visited so we can check in on Marvin? Thank you!" to which Arnett replied "no way I'm not gonna narc on my buddy."[37] Screengrabs of the exchange have been widely reposted as a classic piece of digital culture.[38][39] When a 6 ft (1.8 m) monitor lizard visited a convenience store in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand in 2021 and started climbing up the shelves heading toward the ceiling, the video was posted to Twitter and a user replied, "That's just Marvin, he likes the smell."[40]

References

  1. ^ Renner, Rebecca (24 June 2019). "'Mostly Dead Things' Author Kristen Arnett On The Weird, Wonderful Magic Of Central Florida". Bustle. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  2. ^ Arnett, Kristen [@Kristen_Arnett] (December 16, 2019). "it's still my birthday, show me your dogs" (Tweet). Retrieved 2026-01-18 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ "Mostly Dead Things". Tin House. Retrieved 2026-01-18.
  4. ^ Mania, Greg (2019-06-17). "Kristen Arnett on Florida, Queerness, and 7-Eleven". PAPER. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  5. ^ Smith, Bud (December 15, 2017). "Kristen Arnett". Full Stop. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  6. ^ Kaplan, Mitchell (2019-06-21). "Kristen Arnett on How She Got Her Start as a Librarian". Literary Hub. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  7. ^ "Lambda's Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices: The 2013 Fellows Reflect". Lambda Literary. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  8. ^ Rosen, Louis (June 2, 2016). "Welcome, Kristen Arnett!". Barry Law Library. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  9. ^ a b Boedeker, Hal (May 29, 2019). "Taxidermy enlivens Florida-rich 'Mostly Dead Things'". Orlando Sentinel.
  10. ^ "Kristen Arnett". Literary Hub. Retrieved 2026-01-18.
  11. ^ "Kristen Arnett". Black Mountain Institute. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  12. ^ "2017 Coil Book Award: Kristen N. Arnett's 'Felt in the Jaw'". Medium. December 9, 2017. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  13. ^ a b Williams, John (August 28, 2017). "Stories and Slurpees". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  14. ^ Cline, Jake (2019-06-05). "'Mostly Dead Things' captures the humor and strangeness of Florida without the easy stereotypes". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  15. ^ Faires, Rosalind (October 23, 2019). "Book Review: Mostly Dead Things". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  16. ^ Masad, Ilana (8 June 2019). "Macabre And Irreverent, 'Mostly Dead Things' Is A Satisfying Journey". NPR. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  17. ^ "The 15 Best Books of 2019". The Atlantic. 2019-12-24. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  18. ^ Canfield, David (June 11, 2019). "'Mostly Dead Things' is very Florida, very gay, and very good: EW review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  19. ^ Sehgal, Parul (2019-05-28). "'Mostly Dead Things,' a Story of Taxidermy, Love and Grief, With Echoes of Past Literary Heroines". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  20. ^ Waldman, Katy (2 December 2019). "The Best Books of 2019". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  21. ^ Leiding, Reba (May 31, 2019). "Mostly Dead Things". Library Journal. 144 (5).
  22. ^ "With Teeth by Kristen Arnett: 9780593191521". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  23. ^ Arnett, Kristen N. (July 30, 2018). "The Graveyard Game". Guernica. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  24. ^ Arnett, Kristen N. (2016). "Biddenden Maids". The North American Review. 301 (1): 27–33. ISSN 0029-2397. JSTOR 26781827.
  25. ^ Arnett, Kristen (2020-04-19). "Birds Surrendered and Rehomed". Oprah Daily. Retrieved 2026-01-18.
  26. ^ Arnett, Kristen (2019-07-02). "Divide and Conquer". Medium. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  27. ^ Arnett, Kristen (October 29, 2013). "Hand-Operated Shearing Instruments". The Rumpus. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  28. ^ Arnett, Kristen (2017-04-25). "The Queer Erotics of Handholding in Literature". Electric Literature. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  29. ^ Arnett, Kristen (July 10, 2018). "Oh thank heaven, today is 7-Eleven Day". Orlando Weekly. Archived from the original on 2021-02-27. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  30. ^ Thorpe, Rufi (2025-03-17). "Book Review: 'Stop Me if You've Heard This One,' by Kristen Arnett". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
  31. ^ Worley, Sam (2025-03-18). "The Gay Dirtbag Lives On". Vulture. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
  32. ^ Speakman, Kimberlee; Schumer, Lizz (August 15, 2024). "Misfits, Mimes and Magicians: Kristen Arnett's New Novel Has It All — and We Have the Cover! (Exclusive)". People.com. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  33. ^ "Stop Me If You've Heard This One by Kristen Arnett: 9780593719770". Penguin Random House. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  34. ^ "The 2025 Prize". Comedy Women in Print Prize. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  35. ^ LaGorce, Tammy (16 February 2024). "Two Writers Craft Their Own Love Story". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  36. ^ Arnett, Kristen [@Kristen_Arnett] (April 2, 2018). "this morning at 7-eleven i saw a lizard next to the coffee maker and the cashier said 'no worries that's just marvin, he likes the smell'" (Tweet). Retrieved 2026-01-18 – via Twitter.
  37. ^ Radulovic, Petrana (2018-04-04). "Woman refuses to snitch on her new buddy: Marvin the 7-Eleven lizard". Mashable. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  38. ^ internet hall of fame [@InternetH0F] (June 13, 2023). (Tweet) https://twitter.com/InternetH0F/status/1668802872383791107. Retrieved 2026-01-18 – via Twitter. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  39. ^ Chudy, Emily (2018-04-05). "People rally behind coffee-loving lizard who is a regular in a Florida convenience shop". Independent.ie. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  40. ^ West, Phil (2021-04-09). "Giant Lizard Invades 7-Eleven And Becomes Instant Internet Sensation". God. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
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