Jennifer Egan (born September 6, 1962, Chicago, Illinois) is an American novelist and short-story writer whosediverse works have garnered great critical acclaim.

Egan was born inChicago but grew up inSan Francisco. She attended theUniversity of Pennsylvania and then went toEngland to study atSt. John’s College, Cambridge. During this period she also visited different locales inEurope. Her excursions were reflected in her firstnovel,The Invisible Circus (1995; film 2001), which tells the story of a girl who travels through Europe, tracing the footsteps of her dead sister. Her short-story collectionEmerald City (1996) was also inspired by her European travels.

In her second novel,Look at Me (2001)—a story about a model whose face needs to be rebuilt after she is injured in an automobile accident—Egan explored the themes of identity and reality in a world driven byconsumerism. The book was aNational Book Award finalist. She took a new direction withThe Keep (2006), the story of an inmate in a prison writingworkshop who is revealing the tale of two cousins reunited after years apart to renovate a castle in Europe. In this complex gothic mystery, Egan investigated how confinement (physical or psychological), imagination, and the past affect people in different ways.

Egan’s next novel wasA Visit from the Goon Squad, which follows the life of a record producer as well as a number of other characters, covers several decades, is told from different points of view, and does not follow a linear or chronological order. The novel ultimately reveals time’s comical and relentless changes at work on children and adults of several generations.A Visit from the Goon Squad was awarded aPulitzer Prize. The noir thrillerManhattan Beach (2017) is largely set in 1940sNew York City and centres on several interconnected characters, notably a woman who is the first female diver at the Brooklyn Naval Yard. In 2022 Egan publishedThe Candy House, a sequel toA Visit from the Goon Squad. The acclaimed work’s interwoven narratives are told against the background of a controversial technology that allows users to upload their memories for others to view.

Egan also contributed short stories to such periodicals asHarper’s Magazine andThe New Yorker. Many of her nonfiction articles, including an exposé on homeless children, an investigation intobipolar disorder in children, and information about online dating amonghomosexual teenagers, appeared as cover stories in theNew York Times Magazine.