Literary Birthday – 2 June – Virginia Evans

Happy Birthday, Virginia Evans, born on 2 June 1986.

Virginia Evans Quotes

1. I grew a very thick skin for rejection and criticism. I had to fight to keep my head above water, and even now it’s somewhat challenging for me to identify myself as a writer. I think I have what is called imposter syndrome. Hopefully, it doesn’t take as long to shake it as it took to grow it. I don’t know that I could do it again. (FAQs)
2. I didn’t know the word ‘epistolary’ until someone used it in an interview about the book. I read 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, and loved it! I wanted to try the format, but expand it in order to tell a broader, deeper tale. (FAQs)
3. I wrote the book over the course of a year during Covid. It was an organic, rather internal process. I wrote the letters in order, building out the narrative as I went. I didn’t research much, though I researched later, when revising, for matters of legal accuracy. (Women’sPrize)
4. Once I had the bones and the muscles of the story firm, I went back and revised, moving things, adjusting, adding, taking away, researching. (Women’sPrize)
5. I like total silence. My brain goes into a parallel universe. When the paragraphs quicken and begin to take flight, I sit on my knees. (Women’sPrize)
6. I want to hear the perspectives of women, the agonies of women, the wisdom of women and the wild, euphoric, agonising, brilliant feelings and thoughts of women. (Women’sPrize)
7. I did know that all the strands I started with had to bear on the end. Anything you put into the beginning of the book has to matter at the end. That’s something we know instinctually as storytellers. (The Rumpus)
8. As a reader I really enjoy page breaks. I think every reader is reading for that pause, even if you’re completely compelled by the book and going on to the next page right away. Books with long chapters can feel exhausting… I think that’s part of the reason my book is appealing to people. It feels easy to get through even if it’s an average length. (The Rumpus)
9. In a traditional narrative, an author writes dramatic scenes. They show the big moments, not tell them. With an epistolary novel, it’s the opposite…  You tell everything, even the big plot points, and you have to tell them slant. (The Rumpus)

Virginia Evans is an American novelist. She attended James Madison University for her bachelor’s in English literature, as well as Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, for her master’s of philosophy in creative writing. She is the author of The Correspondent, which has sold over two million copies and was on the New York Times best-seller list. It was also shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2026. Follow her on Instagram.

Source for photograph: Author’s Website

by Amanda Patterson

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