Katya Apekina, Editor in Los Angeles, CA, United States

Overview

My debut novel, The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish, was named a Best Book of 2018 by Kirkus, Buzzfeed, LitHub and others, and was a finalist for the LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, a semifinalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and on the shortlist for Stanford Libraries’ 2020 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. The novel is out in Spanish, German, Catalan, and French and will be out next year in Italian. The book is about an American family, though literary critic Michael Silverblatt on his show Bookworm, said that it behaves like “a great Russian novel” because of its sweeping scope and dark humor.

My prose and poetry translations from Russian appeared in Night Wraps the Sky: Writings by and About Mayakovsky (FSG, 2008), which was short-listed for the Best Translated Book Award. And, I co-wrote the script for the film New Orleans, Mon Amour (2008), which starred Elisabeth Moss.

I have worked as an editor for Joyland Magazine, read applications for a top MFA program and worked as an independent editor for academic books of nonfiction, memoirs and novels. My background working at a literary agency has helped me sharpen my sense of what gets a book noticed and read.

Services

Developmental Editing

Editorial Assessment

Query Letter Review

Non-Fiction

Biographies & Memoirs

Fiction

Classics Coming of Age Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Plays & Screenplays Short Story Women's Fiction

Languages

English (US)

Awards

Semi-finalist, VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, 2019, Crook’s Corner Book Prize, 2019.
Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Art Seidenbaum, First Fiction, 2018.
Nominee, National Book Critics Circle, John Leonard Prize, 2018.
35 over 35 Award, 2018.
Best Book of 2018: BuzzFeed, Entropy, LitReactor, LitHub and Kirkus (starred).
Elizabeth George Grant (2015).
Translations from Russian to English shortlisted for Best Translated Book Prize (2008).
Film, New Orleans, Mon Amour premiered nationally at the SXSW Film Festival and internationally at the Rotterdam Film Festival (2008).
Washington University’s Third Year Fiction Fellowship (2011/2012).
Washington University’s Alena Wilson Prize (2011).
Washington University’s Olin Fellowship (2009-2011).
Shortlisted for Stanford Libraries’ 2020 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.

Certifications

MFA from Washington University in St. Louis.
BA in Creative Writing from Columbia University.

Work experience

Lecturer

Washington University in St. Louis

Aug, 2010 — May, 2012 (over 1 year)

• Designed a syllabus and curriculum and taught an introductory and intermediate undergraduate fiction workshop.
• Served on the admissions committee and read applications for the MFA program in Fiction.