Siri Hustvedt reads voraciously, usually at least four hours a day. When she’s doing research for a new work, she spends even more time poring over books. The American author with Norwegian roots is not only one of the most successful writers in the United States, she also works in the field of neuroscience and psychoanalysis. Since 2015 she’s been a lecturer in psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. In 2019 she was granted the prestigious Princess of Asturias Award for Literature. The jury described her work as among the "most ambitious on today’s literary scene" and the author as "a scholar and intellectual who addresses fundamental issues of contemporary ethics" and "has contributed to the interdisciplinary dialogue between the sciences and the humanities."
Siri Hustvedt has been married to writer Paul Auster since 1982. The literary power couple campaigned vigorously against the re-election of Donald Trump. Hustvedt says she’d never written as many political articles as she has in the past four years. Alexander W. Rauscher interviewed the writer in New York. They talked about her background; about speaking multiple languages, gender equality, the secret to a happy marriage and criticizing a partner's writing; about aging, lifelong learning and, of course, politics.
Meet the Artist Siri Hustvedt!