Kristen Roupenian holds a PhD in English from Harvard, an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan, and a BA from Barnard College. She is the author of the short story, “Cat Person,” which was published in The New Yorker and selected by Sheila Heti for The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018. She is at work on a novel. Follow her on Instagram @KRoupenian.
Kristen Roupenian holds a PhD in English from Harvard, an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan, and a BA from Barnard College. She is the author of the short story, “Cat Person,” which was published in The New Yorker and selected by Sheila Heti for The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018. She is at work on a novel. Follow her on Instagram @KRoupenian.
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“The stories in You Know You Want This are wildly strange and deeply human. When it comes to the secret hurt and twisted desires that lurk in seemingly mundane encounters between men and women, Kristen Roupenian is a super genius. I loved every single word of this freaky, fantastic book.”
– Julie Buntin, author of Marlena
“These transgressive and darkly electric stories announce the arrival of a bold, new, necessary voice in American short fiction.”
– Claire Vaye Watkins,, Story Prize-winning “5 Under 35” author of Gold Fame Citrus and Battleborn
“In an age that needs a wrecking ball, You Know You Want This provides one. This is a raucous, visceral page-turner that tunnels into the heart of relationships gone awry, modern-day miscommunications, and other horrors of being human. Not polite. Suffers no fools. Takes no prisoners. Read it.”
– Jeff VanderMeer,, New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation
“If you think you know what this collection will be like, you’re wrong. These stories are sharp and perverse, dark and bizarre, unrelenting and utterly bananas. I love them so, so much.”
– Carmen Maria Machado, National Book Award Finalist and author of Her Body and Other Parties
“Exceptionally compelling; I love the way these stories create a world that is simultaneously familiar and deeply unsettling, showing—in strange and surprising ways—the interplay of disgust, fear and desire. Images from the book keep coming back to me: its narratives feel both mythical and completely modern.”
– Megan Hunter, The End We Start From
“Kristen Roupenian isn’t just an uncannily great writer, she also knows things about the human psyche—things that I always supposed I would learn at some point, but never did. Some of these things are about men’s minds in particular and I’m pretty sure she’s right. The world has made a lot more sense since reading this book.”
– Miranda July, New York Times bestselling author of The First Bad Man
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