Debra Immergut

Debra Jo Immergut is an American author known for her psychological thrillers. She is best known for You Again (2020) and The Captives (2018), which was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Debut Novel and published in over a dozen countries.

Debra Immergut was born in the United States. She pursued her education at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, earning an MFA. The first publication of her work was the short story collection Private Property (Random House). After this early success, she took a long hiatus from publishing. She took time out for marriage, motherhood, and various jobs. "My literary path has been wild and winding," she has said of her journey.

Her breakthrough came with The Captives (2018), a novel about a prison psychologist and his former high school crush, now an inmate. This novel, infused with Immergut's life experiences, was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Debut Novel and published in over a dozen countries. She explains, "The Captives explores the tangled, dangerous bond that forms between Miranda and Frank. I started daydreaming about what might happen if one encountered a school-era object of desire in an extreme setting, like a prison."

Her second novel, You Again (2020), is about a woman haunted by her younger self. It was a finalist for the 2021 Gotham Book Prize and a New York Times Best of 2020 selection. "I felt compelled to write this novel so I could see what she might say, how I'd explain my life to her," she stated about You Again.

In addition to her novels, Immergut has published essays and stories in various esteemed publications, including American Short Fiction, Narrative, The New York Times, PANK, and Hobart. In 2021, she was nominated for the Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize and received Michener and MacDowell fellowships.

Currently residing in western Massachusetts, Debra Immergut continues to teach and write.

Photo credit: debrajoimmergut.com