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Elif Batuman was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey. She now lives in Twin Peaks, San Francisco (near the radio tower). She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Prize. She teaches literature at Stanford University.

Reviews of Ms. Batuman's book The Possessed:

“When I rave to you, dear readers, about Elif Batuman's hilarious and charming THE POSSESSED, understand that the author has entirely bewitched me ... Ten pages in, I already knew I'd read her on pretty much anything. . . I'm hooked.”

--Laura Miller, Salon

"Wonderfully grotesque, like a cross between Borges and Borat ... Shows how the life of literary scholarship is really lived—at its most ridiculous, and at its most unexpectedly sublime." 

--Adam Kirsch, Slate

"Dazzling flair and originality ... If Susan Sontag had coupled with Buster Keaton, their prodigiously gifted love child might have written this book."

--Richard Rayner, Los Angeles Times 

"Audaciously funny  ... Part travelogue, part memoir, this book is ultimately about what happens when an unlikely infatuation becomes a life's work."

--Kristy Davis, O Magazine 

"Hugely engaging ... Batuman [is} an almost painfully funny raconteur."

--Megan O'Grady, Vogue