Picture an American storyteller who swapped water polo goals for literary gold—meet Rita Bullwinkel! Known for her surreal, heartfelt tales, Bullwinkel burst onto the scene with her debut collection Belly Up, a 2018 Believer Book Award winner. Her stories, blending humor, tragedy, and the bizarre, capture the fragile beauty of human existence with a voice that’s as bold as a knockout punch.
Her 2024 novel Headshot, longlisted for the Booker Prize, cemented her as a literary force. From ghostly short stories to gritty boxing narratives, Bullwinkel’s work invites readers into worlds where the ordinary meets the extraordinary. Let’s dive into her journey, from athletic fields to the pages of literary acclaim.
The Making of Rita Bullwinkel
Born with a knack for competition, Rita Bullwinkel spent her youth in gyms, pools, and on fields, shaping her body into a water polo powerhouse. Surprisingly, fiction wasn’t on her radar until college, where she traded surfboard furniture projects for storytelling. This late-blooming passion led her to prestigious fellowships at places like The MacDowell Colony and Brown University, fueling her unique voice. Her time as a youth athlete, traveling for tournaments, deeply informs her work, infusing it with the intensity and camaraderie of sports.
Influenced by mentors like Diane Williams at NOON, Bullwinkel honed a style that sings when read aloud, a testament to her belief that good writing must stand up orally. Her early career saw her stories published in literary heavyweights like Tin House, BOMB, and Guernica, setting the stage for her remarkable debut.
Rita Bullwinkel’s Unforgettable Stories
Bullwinkel’s debut, Belly Up (2018), is a collection of short stories that dance between the surreal and the human. From teenage girls imagining themselves as plants to gulag prisoners outsmarting wardens, these tales are hilarious, tragic, and utterly honest. Critics like Jeff VanderMeer and Lorrie Moore praised its empathy and unusual detail, with the collection earning the 2018 Believer Book Award and translations into Italian and Greek.
Her 2024 novel Headshot is a knockout, following eight teenage girl boxers at a Reno tournament. Longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, it blends visceral sports action with lyrical insight into identity and ambition. Reviewers like Dwight Garner called it “fresh and strong,” noting its lasting impact. Bullwinkel’s prose, crisp yet beguilingly strange, captures the smallness and infiniteness of youth athletics, drawing from her own tournament-filled past.
Her stories, often described as portraiture, explore the body’s neediness and the mind’s quirks. Works like “Harp” and “Clamour” from Belly Up showcase her range, from restless narrators to supernatural puzzles, while Headshot proves her knack for building entire worlds, much like the horse-racing novels she admires, such as Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan.
Why Rita Bullwinkel Matters
Rita Bullwinkel’s impact lies in her ability to give voice to the overlooked—teenage girls, athletes, the weird and wounded. Her stories elevate the mundane to the profound, making readers see the world anew. As a professor at the University of San Francisco and editor of McSweeney’s Quarterly, she shapes the next generation of writers, championing inventive storytelling and zine culture. Her work, translated into multiple languages, resonates globally, proving that even niche sports and quirky characters can speak universal truths.
By blending sports, surrealism, and raw emotion, Bullwinkel has carved a unique space in American literature. Her fearless exploration of identity and resilience inspires readers to embrace their own strangeness, making her a vital voice in contemporary fiction.
- Birth Date: Not publicly available
- Key Works: Belly Up (2018), Headshot (2024)
- Awards: 2018 Believer Book Award, 2022 Whiting Award, 2024 Booker Prize longlist
- Fun Fact: She once owned a ratty raccoon-skin hat!
Snag Headshot or Belly Up and dive into Rita Bullwinkel’s wild, wonderful world of surreal storytelling!