Lynne Tillman

American novelist

Lynne Tillman (born January 1, 1947) is a novelist, short story writer, and cultural critic. She is currently Professor/Writer in Residence in the Department of English at the University at Albany and teaches at the School of Visual Arts' Art Criticism and Writing MFA Program. Tillman is the author of six novels, five collections of short stories, two collection of essays, and two other nonfiction books. She writes a bi monthly column "In These Intemperate Times" for Frieze Art Magazine.

Tillman's novels include: American Genius, A Comedy (2006); No Lease on Life (1998), which was a finalist for a National Book Critics Award in Fiction; Cast in Doubt (1992); Motion Sickness (1991); and Haunted Houses (1987). In March 2018, her sixth novel Men and Apparitions was published by Soft Skull Press. Absence Makes the Heart (1990) is Tillman's first collection of short stories. The Broad Picture (1997) is a collection of Tillman's essays, which were published originally in literary and art periodicals. Her other story collections are: The Madame Realism Complex (1992); This Is Not It (2002), stories written in response to the work of 22 contemporary artists; Someday This Will Be Funny (2011); and The Complete Madame Realism and Other Stories.

In 1995, Tillman's nonfiction work, The Velvet Years: Warhol's Factory 1965 1967, was published with photographs by Stephen Shore; it presented 18 Warhol Factory personalities' narratives, based on interviews with them, as well as her critical essay on Andy Warhol, his art and studio. Tillman is also the author of the nonfiction book The Life and Times of Jeannette Watson and Books & Co. (1999), a cultural and social history of a literary landmark where writers and artists congregated for nearly 20 years. What Would Lynne Tillman Do? (2014), her second essay collection, was a Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism in 2014. The entirety of What Would Lynne Tillman Do? is available online.

In the 1970s, Tillman squatted in London with Heathcote Williams. As of 2019, she was living in Manhattan with the musician David Hofstra. Her personal papers were purchased by the Fales Library at New York University. Tillman is a collector of the work of artist Caroline Goe.