Stephanie LaCava

Stephanie LaCava
Stephanie LaCava Author Image
Born	(1985-04-17) April 17, 1985

Stephanie Leigh LaCava (born April 17, 1985) is an American writer based in New York City. LaCava began her career at American Vogue and her work has since appeared in The Believer, The New York Review of Books, Harper's Magazine, Texte zur Kunst, and The New Inquiry.

Work

LaCava's first book, An Extraordinary Theory of Objects, was a memoir hybrid of narrative nonfiction and illustration.

Her first novel, The Superrationals, is about female friendship, set at the intersection between counterculture and the multimillion dollar art industry. Released in October 2020 by Semiotext(e), it received reviews in Frieze and Guernica. The protagonist of the novel is an auction house employee named Mathilde, who is writing a dissertation on art history.

LaCava's second novel, I Fear My Pain Interests You, was published by Verso Books in September 2022. Margot, the novel's protagonist, is the daughter of two famous musicians and cannot feel physical pain. The novel follows her as she returns to the Montana town of Bozeman to live in her grandparents' house following the end of an abusive relationship with a man known as "The Director". There she reflects on her upbringing, past relationships, and meets a man named Graves who has a fascination with her inability to feel pain.

LaCava's novels have been described as "feel-bad books".

In addition to her writing, Stephanie LaCava is the founder of Small Press, an independent publisher of new works in translation and artist-led visual narratives for children and adults.

In 2022, LaCava released a five-minute short film titled Based On, If Any, made in collaboration with filmmaker Tess Sahara and producer Isaac Hoff. The Los Angeles Review of Books wrote that the film, "like so much of LaCava’s output, is deeply concerned with parents and children". It follows two women, Tess (played by LaCava) and Leigh (after LaCava's middle name, played by Sahara).

Personal life

LaCava's family lived in Le Vésinet after her family was expatriated from Boston to France in the 1990s through her father’s job. LaCava has said that growing up in Le Vésinet as an American was "very lonely" and that she sought escape in books. She has described herself as having been "a misanthropic little kid" who "would rather read than socialize".

Her time in Le Vésinet is recounted in her first book, An Extraordinary Theory of Objects.

LaCava studied international relations, international economics, and French.