“But these were days of self-fulfillment, where settling for something that was not quite your first choice of a life seemed weak-willed and ignoble. Somewhere, surrendering to what seemed to be your fate had changed from being dignified to being a sign of your own cowardice.”

American novelist, editor, and travel writer

Hanya Yanagihara is an American novelist, editor, and travel writer. She grew up in Hawaii and is known for her fiction and editorial work. She is best known for the bestselling novel A Little Life, which was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize. Yanagihara also served as editor-in-chief of T Magazine, and her work has reached readers through both long-form fiction and magazine writing.