“It’s a powerful moment, when you discover a vocabulary exists for something you’d thought incommunicably unique. Personally, I felt it reading Joseph Conrad’s “Lord Jim.” I have friends who’ve found themselves described in everything from science fiction to detective novels. This self-recognition through others is not simply a by-product of art — it’s the whole point.”

American writer

Phil Klay is an American writer. He won the National Book Award for fiction in 2014 for his first book-length publication, the short story collection Redeployment. That same year, the National Book Foundation named him a 5 under 35 honoree. His 2020 novel, Missionaries, was included among Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year and was also named one of The Wall Street Journal’s Ten Best Books of the Year.