Best Selling Books by Sheila Heti

From the author of How Should a Person Be? (“one of the most talked-about books of the year”—Time Magazine) and the New York Times Bestseller Women in Clothes comes a daring novel about whether to have children. In Motherhood, Sheila Heti asks what is gained and what is lost when a woman becomes a mother, treating the most consequential decision of early adulthood with the candor, originality, and humor that have won Heti international acclaim and made How Should A Person Be? required reading for a generation. In her late thirties, when her friends are asking when they will become mothers, the narrator of Heti’s intimate and urgent novel considers whether she will do so at all. In a narrative spanning several years, casting among the influence of her peers, partner, and her duties to her forbearers, she struggles to make a wise and moral choice. After seeking guidance from philosophy, her body, mysticism, and chance, she discovers her answer much closer to home. Motherhood is a courageous, keenly felt, and starkly original novel that will surely spark lively conversations about womanhood, parenthood, and about how—and for whom—to live.

From the internationally acclaimed author of The Middle Storiesand Ticknorcomes a bold interrogation into the possibility of a beautiful life. How Should a Person Be?is a novel of many identities: an autobiography of the mind, a postmodern self-help book, and a fictionalized portrait of the artist as a young woman — of two such artists, in fact. For reasons multiple and mysterious, Sheila finds herself in a quandary of self-doubt, questioning how a person should be in the world. Inspired by her friend Margaux, a painter, and her seemingly untortured ability to live and create, Sheila casts Margaux as material, embarking on a series of recordings in which nothing is too personal, too ugly, or too banal to be turned into art. Along the way, Sheila confronts a cast of painters who are equally blocked in an age in which the blow job is the ultimate art form. She begins questioning her desire to be Important, her quest to be both a leader and a pupil, and her unwillingness to sacrifice herself. Searching, uncompromising and yet mordantly funny, How Should a Person Be?is a brilliant portrait of art-making and friendship from the psychic underground of Canada''s most fiercely original writer.

Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker Sheila Heti collected 500,000 words from a decade''s worth of journals, put the sentences in a spreadsheet, and sorted them alphabetically. She cut and cut and was left with 60,000 words of brilliance and mayhem, joy and sorrow. These are her alphabetical diaries.

Winner of the 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award in Fiction Shortlisted for the 2023 Rathbones Folio Prize in Fiction Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vulture, The Times Literary Supplement, and more Pure Colour is a galaxy of a novel: explosive, celestially bright, huge, and streaked with beauty. It is a contemporary bible, an atlas of feeling, and an absurdly funny guide to the great (and terrible) things about being alive. Sheila Heti is a philosopher of modern experience, and she has reimagined what a book can hold. Here we are, just living in the first draft of Creation, which was made by some great artist, who is now getting ready to tear it apart. In this first draft of the world, a woman named Mira leaves home to study. There, she meets Annie, whose tremendous power opens Mira’s chest like a portal—to what, she doesn’t know. When Mira is older, her beloved father dies, and his spirit passes into her. Together, they become a leaf on a tree. But photosynthesis gets boring, and being alive is a problem that cannot be solved, even by a leaf. Eventually, Mira must remember the human world she’s left behind, including Annie, and choose whether or not to return.

Wildly acclaimed in Canada, this book marks the debut of a remarkable young writer first published by McSweeney''s when she was twenty-three and living at home with her dad and brother. The Middle Stories is a strikingly original collection of stories, fables, and short brutalities that are alternately heartwarming, cruel, and hilarious. This edition, marking the 10th anniversary of The Middle Stories, will be designed in the newly iconic McSweeney''s paperback style, and will be published shortly before Heti''s newest novel, How Should A Person Be?, emigrates from Canada via Henry Holt & Co.

A tender and deeply moving picture book about loss and the big questions it leaves behind from New York Times bestselling author Sheila Heti and acclaimed illustrator Esmé Shapiro. Two bunnies and a cat live happily together in a beautiful garden. But when the big bunny passes away, the little bunny is unsure how to fill the void she left behind. A strange dream prompts her to begin asking questions: Why do the creatures we love have to die, and where do we go when we die? How come life works this way? With the wisdom of the cat to guide her, the little bunny learns that missing someone is a way of keeping them close. And together they discover that the big bunny is a part of everything around them -- the grass, the air, the leaves -- for the world is a garden of creatures. With its meditative text, endearing illustrations and life-affirming message, A Garden of Creatures reveals how the interconnectedness of nature and the sweetness of friendship can be a warm embrace even in the darkest times.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Women in Clothes is a book unlike any other. It is essentially a conversation among hundreds of women of all nationalities—famous, anonymous, religious, secular, married, single, young, old—on the subject of clothing, and how the garments we put on every day define and shape our lives. It began with a survey. The editors composed a list of more than fifty questions designed to prompt women to think more deeply about their personal style. Writers, activists, and artists including Cindy Sherman, Kim Gordon, Kalpona Akter, Sarah Nicole Prickett, Tavi Gevinson, Miranda July, Roxane Gay, Lena Dunham, and Molly Ringwald answered these questions with photographs, interviews, personal testimonies, and illustrations. Even our most basic clothing choices can give us confidence, show the connection between our appearance and our habits of mind, express our values and our politics, bond us with our friends, or function as armor or disguise. They are the tools we use to reinvent ourselves and to transform how others see us. Women in Clothes embraces the complexity of women’s style decisions, revealing the sometimes funny, sometimes strange, always thoughtful impulses that influence our daily ritual of getting dressed.

Ticknoris the first novel by Sheila Heti, the author of the acclaimed story collectionThe Middle Storiesand, with Misha Glouberman, the essay collectionThe Chairs are Where the People Go. George Ticknor is trying to reconcile his own failure with the success of his boyhood friend, the famous American historian William Prescott. Ticknor''s life has been reduced to a series of awkward meetings, failed dinner parties, and other misfortunes he is loath to own up to. Situated in the complicated and contradictory moments that make friendships both tenuous and difficult to relinquish, Ticknor''s fixated thoughts about his and Prescott''s dissimilar fates lead him through a litany of rationalizations and recriminations, a psychological maze that is paranoid and harrowing as well as ludicrous and absurd. In George Ticknor, Sheila Heti has created a memorable new hero of Prufrockian dimension.Ticknoris an exquisite singularity.

Two couples, each with a twelve-year-old child, travel to Paris; within a few moments of discovering each other in a crowd, one of their children disappears. A day later, one of the mothers disappears, too. The story that follows is a wonderfully strange, beautifully composed examination of happiness and desperation, complete with a man in a bear suit, a teen pop star, and eight really excellent songs. Sheila Heti’s debut play was first commissioned in 2001, for a feminist theater company that never ended up staging it. Its turbulent creation became the backdrop of Heti’s last novel, How Should a Person Be?, which was named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times and the New Yorker—and now the play itself can be revealed at last. With new introductions by Sheila Heti and director Jordan Tannahill, All Our Happy Days Are Stupid offers a novel’s worth of wisdom and humor, of wild hope and dreamlike confrontations, and page after page of unforgettable lines. Seen until now only by a lucky few, its publication is a cause for celebration.

Should neighborhoods change? Is wearing a suit a good way to quit smoking? Why do people think that if you do one thing, you''re against something else? Is monogamy a trick? Why isn''t making the city more fun for you and your friends a super-noble political goal? Why does a computer last only three years? How often should you see your parents? How should we behave at parties? Is marriage getting easier? What can spam tell us about the world? Misha Glouberman''s friend and collaborator, Sheila Heti, wanted her next book to be a compilation of everything Misha knew. Together, they made a list of subjects. As Misha talked, Sheila typed. He talked about games, relationships, cities, negotiation, improvisation, Casablanca, conferences, and making friends. His subjects ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. But sometimes what had seemed trivial began to seem important—and what had seemed important began to seem less so. The Chairs Are Where the People Go is refreshing, appealing, and kind of profound. It''s a self-help book for people who don''t feel they need help, and a how-to book that urges you to do things you don''t really need to do.

Balancing wisdom and innocence, joy and foreboding, Sheila Heti''s completely original stories lead you to surprising places. "Globe and Mail" critic Russell Smith has described Heti''s stories as cryptic fairy tales without morals at the end, but really the morals are in the quality of the telling and in the details disclosed along the way. Look where you weren''t going to look, think what you wouldn''t have thought, Heti seems to say, and meaning itself gains more meaning, more dimensions. Heti''s stories are not what you expect, but why did you expect that anyway? This special new edition features nine new stories that were not available in the first Canadian edition.

Author Sheila Heti works with a group of high school students to select the year''s best new fiction, journalism, poetry, essays, and comics aimed at readers age fifteen and up.

Avoir ou pas des enfants? La question devient un véritable dilemme existentiel dans L’arène des mères, un roman autobiographique où Sheila Heti ébranle nos conceptions et nos a priori autour de la maternité. Sous la forme d’une délibération, elle pèse le pour et le contre, évalue la « joie que procurent les enfants » et « la misère qu’ils causent », questionnant notamment le jugement réservé aux femmes qui choisissent de ne pas enfanter. Grinçante et pleine d’autodérision, l’autrice abandonne sa rationalité au hasard d’un lancer de pièces de monnaie inspiré du Yi Jing, un système de divination millénaire né en Chine. Au final, le livre pose la question plus large de ce qui devrait guider nos choix, du sens qu’on donne à nos vies et de la possibilité d’être à la fois un grand artiste et un bon parent. Mêlant la magie au poids de l’héritage familial, la réflexion philosophique au découpage du temps selon le cycle menstruel, ce livre inclassable ose remettre en cause le bien-fondé de la maternité et donner la parole à la femme qui ne désire pas se reproduire.

Pura cor oferece um mergulho na beleza da imperfeição, explorando os limites do indizível. Espirituosa e comovente, a escrita de Sheila Heti reflete sobre o que constitui as relações contemporâneas. Esta é a história de Mira, que se divide entre o amor que sente por Annie, que lhe parece um peixe desatento, e o amor pelo pai, que lhe parece um urso acolhedor. Todos vivem no primeiro rascunho da Criação, sob as pinceladas errantes de Deus. O pai de Mira presenteou a filha com uma raridade: a cor pura. Em disquinhos circulares e duros, o objeto trazia uma coloração sólida envolta pelo brilho de uma joia polida. Uma cor estante, que está para o lado de dentro, introvertida feito um animalzinho tímido. O presente torna-se uma espécie de relicário, prova física do amor e da presença paterna. Acompanhamos, por meio de Mira, as transformações, os sentimentos e as sensações que um corpo humano atravessa ao longo da vida — do primeiro amor à orfandade, no ambiente escolar e no seio familiar, das amizades aos relacionamentos amorosos — ao passo que questionamos as escolhas artísticas do Criador. "Fenomenal. Se os romances anteriores de Heti se preocupavam com as diferenças entre as pessoas e com questões de como viver melhor e mais feliz, este livro abraça a inevitabilidade feliz e melancólica de ser quem se é e de permitir que a vida molde você de formas incontroláveis ou imprevisíveis." — The New York Times "De longe o melhor texto que Sheila Heti já escreveu. Franco, atencioso, sem constrangimento, radiante de admiração, sério, mas leve como uma pluma — e, para mim, corajoso em[sua]disposição de mergulhar de todo o coração no incognoscível." — The Wall Street Journal "Verdadeiro e vívido... Isso me fez reconsiderar o que pode caber dentro de um romance. E essa é exatamente a genialidade de Heti." — Los Angeles Times "Honesto, engraçado e doce. Embora o livro esteja repleto de arrependimento por tudo o que será perdido, há consolo. Se eu não fosse uma crítica, mas uma amiga, colocaria este livro em suas mãos e diria: ''É um pouco maluco, mas acho que você vai gostar.''" — The Guardian

Um romance provocador e corajoso sobre o desejo e o dever de procriar, escrito pela brilhante escritora canadense Sheila Heti. Em Maternidade, Sheila Heti reflete sobre os ganhos e as perdas para uma mulher que decide se tornar mãe, tratando a decisão que mais traz consequências na vida adulta com a franqueza, a originalidade e o humor que lhe renderam reconhecimento internacional por seu livro anterior, How Should a Person Be?. Ao se aproximar dos quarenta anos, numa fase em que todas as suas amigas se perguntam quando irão ter filhos, a narradora do romance intimista e urgente de Heti — no limiar entre a ficção e autorreflexão — questiona se aquela é uma experiência que ela quer ter. Numa narrativa que se estende ao longo de muitos anos, moldada a partir de conversas com seus pares e seu parceiro e de sua relação com os pais, ela se vê em um embate para fazer uma escolha sábia e coerente. Depois de buscar ajuda na filosofia, no próprio corpo, no misticismo e no acaso, ela descobre a resposta num lugar bem mais familiar do que imaginaria. "Nunca vi ninguém escrever sobre a relação entre não ter filhos, escrever e a tristeza das mães do modo que Sheila Heti faz." — Elif Batuman, autora de Os possessos e A idiota

Un romanzo, un diario, un paradossale manuale per trovare se stessi: innovativo, sorprendente, duro, nel raccontare l’irrequietezza, l’amore e il turbamento di una giovane donna del nuovo millennio. «La novità del romanzo di Sheila Heti e di una serie come Girls è il modo in cui le relazioni con gli uomini sono diventate secondarie rispetto alla profondità dell’amicizia femminile. Sono le altre donne e non gli uomini che più influenzano la nostra trasformazione da ragazze in donne. Sono le donne e non gli uomini che ci forniscono le opportunità per esprimerci e per comprendere noi stesse» (The New Yorker).

Ein Buch für alle, die überlegen, ein Kind zu bekommen, die schon eins haben, die keines wollten, die nicht wissen, was sie wollen, obwohl die Uhr tickt. In ihren späten 30ern, als die Freundinnen sich fragen, wann sie endlich Mutter werden, fragt Sheila Heti sich, ob sie es überhaupt werden will. Mal hierhin, mal dorthin gezogen von ihren Mitmenschen, ihrem Partner und den Verpflichtungen gegenüber ihren jüdischen Vorfahren, versucht sie eine weise und moralische Entscheidung zu treffen. Nachdem Philosophie, ihr Körper, Mystik und Zufall nicht geholfen haben, findet sie die Antwort viel näher bei sich. "Mutterschaft" ist mutig, tief empfunden und so originell, dass es jede Debatte über Weiblichkeit, Elternschaft und unseren Lebenssinn bereichern wird.

Nach Wie sollten wir sein? und Mutterschaft ein neues Werk von der Vordenkerin einer neuen Weiblichkeit. Wie alle Bücher von Sheila Heti oszilliert auch dieses zwischen den Genres. Reine Farbe ist philosophisches Traktat, modernes Märchen und die realistische Erzählung einer Freundschaft zwischen zwei jungen Frauen in schwierigen Zeiten. Die Prämisse: Gott schuf die Welt in sechs Tagen, betrachtet sie seit nunmehr 4,5 Milliarden Jahren mit dem Pinsel in der Hand und überlegt, ob es nicht klüger wäre, eine neue, bessere Version anzugehen. Mira ist aber in dieser ersten Welt zu Hause. Sie teilt die Menschen in Vogel-, Fisch- und Bärenwesen; sie selbst ist ein Vogel (flüchtig, scheu), ihre Freundin Annie ein Fisch (sozial, engagiert, ein Schwarmtier). Miras Vater wiederum, der einen starken Einfluss auf sie ausübt, ist ein (machtvoll emotionaler) Bär. Und sein Tod für sie kaum zu verwinden. Ein modernes Märchen über die Macht der Liebe und das Ende der Welt. Von einer der eigensinnigsten und überraschendsten Schriftstellerinnen unserer Tage. «Einzigartig. Dieses Buch erzählt uns etwas Neues über die schwierigen Zeiten, in denen wir leben.» Anne Enright «Sheila Heti beschreitet völlig neue Wege.» Rachel Cusk «Ein beglückendes Buch, das mich zum Schreiben inspiriert hat.» Sally Rooney über Wie sollten wir sein?

Sheila lebt in Toronto: Frisch geschieden und künstlerisch blockiert von der Arbeit an einem feministischen Stück, das sie für ein Theater schreiben soll, steckt sie mitten in der Lebenskrise. Alle anderen scheinen zu wissen, wie das geht: authentisch leben. Nur sie weiß es nicht, hat sie doch das meiste von Männern gelernt, die ihr etwas beibringen wollten. Also beginnt sie, Gespräche mit ihrer besten Freundin auf Band aufzuzeichnen, und macht sie damit zu einem Untersuchungsobjekt ihrer philosophischen Neugier. Und nicht nur sie, sondern auch ihren dominanten neuen Lover Israel. Aber wo bleibt dabei sie selbst? Und was ist das überhaupt, ein authentisches Leben? Oder dessen Sinn? In den USA bekam Sheila Hetis formal wagemutiger Roman, der teils Seelenreise, teils literarisches Künstlerporträt, teils Bekenntnis ist, begeisterte Kritiken. Ein Muss für jeden, der in einer Zeit manischer Jugendlichkeit nach dem sucht, was man altmodisch Charakter nennt.

Now available in an exclusive ebook bundle, three books of fiction from Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist Sheila Heti. In Ticknor, her first novel, Sheila Heti has created a memorable new hero of Prufrockian dimension. George Ticknor is trying to reconcile his own failure with the success of his boyhood friend, the famous American historian William Prescott. Situated in the complicated and contradictory moments that make friendships both tenuous and difficult to relinquish, Ticknor’s fixated thoughts about his and Prescott’s dissimilar fates lead him through a litany of rationalizations and recriminations, a psychological maze that is paranoid and harrowing as well as ludicrous and absurd. The stories in The Middle Stories balance wisdom and innocence, joy and foreboding. A frog doles out sage advice to a plumber infatuated with a princess, a boy falls hopelessly in love with a monkey, and a man with a hat keeps apocalyptic thoughts at bay by resolving to follow a plan that he admits he won’t stick to. Heti’s stories are not what you expect, but why did you expect that anyway? Sheila Heti’s critically acclaimed novel How Should a Person Be? is an unabashedly honest and hilarious tour through the unknowable pieces of one woman’s heart and mind, an irresistible torn-from-life book about friendship, art, sex, and love. Part literary novel, part self-help manual, and part racy confessional, it is a fearless exploration into the way we live now by one of Canada''s most exciting literary talents.

Vad vinner den kvinna som skaffar barn, och vad offrar hon? Vad vinner och vad offrar den som avstår? Någonstans mellan 30 och 40 kan huvudpersonen i Moderskap inte längre ducka för frågorna. Medan hennes vänner överlägger vid vilken tidpunkt det bäst passar dem att bli mödrar, brottas hon med frågan om moderskapet alls är för henne. Moderskap utspelar sig under de kanske mest avgörande åren i en kvinnas liv, då önskan om frihet ställs mot önskan om barn och beslutet oavsett utgång är oåterkalleligt. I sina prövande försök att hitta det svar som är rätt för henne går berättaren i dialog med sin partner och sina vänner, med konst, filosofi, mysticism och drömtydning. Och hon singlar slant. Resultatet är en ärlig, intelligent och överraskande undersökning av moderskapets mytologi som töjer lika mycket på romangenren som på huvudpersonens förväntade positioner. Det är en text som ansluter sig till ett pågående samtal om livsval, feminism och föräldraskap, och som liksom Hetis genombrottsbok How should a person be? ställer den universella frågan om hur man som människa egentligen ska leva.

Wat gebeurt er als je ruim zeshonderd vrouwen een enquête laat beantwoorden over kleding? Het antwoord is Vrouwen & kleren; een volstrekt uniek boek, in essentie een gesprek met honderden vrouwen van alle nationaliteiten - beroemd en anoniem, gelovig en ongelovig, getrouwd en single, jong en oud - over kleding en de manier waarop die je leven definieert en vormgeeft. Het begon allemaal met een enquête, opgesteld door Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits en Leanne Shapton. Vijftig vragen die vrouwen moeten aanmoedigen dieper over hun persoonlijke stijl na te denken. De vragen gingen naar meer dan zeshonderd vrouwen toe, onder wie schrijfsters, activistes, actrices en beeldend kunstenaressen als Cindy Sherman, Kim Gordon, Kalpona Akter, Sarah Nicole Prickett, Tavi Gevinson, Miranda July, Sasha Grey, Lena Dunham en Molly Ringwald. En zij antwoordden met foto''s, interviews, persoonlijke getuigenissen en illustraties. In deze Nederlandse editie zijn bijdragen toegevoegd van onder anderen Neelie Kroes, Isabelle Beernaert, Daphne Deckers, Gerdi Verbeet, Grietje Braaksma, Igone de Jongh en Evi Hanssen. Het resultaat is een prachtig, rijk geïllustreerd en afwisselend boek geworden, een intiem kijkje achter de schermen van de vrouwelijke stijl. Vrouwen & kleren laat zien dat zelfs de meest elementaire kledingkeuze zelfvertrouwen kan geven, het verband tussen uiterlijk en innerlijk laat zien, uiting geeft aan waarden en politieke overtuigingen, de band met de omgeving versterkt en als harnas of vermomming dient. Kleren zijn de instrumenten die we gebruiken om onszelf opnieuw uit te vinden en de blik van anderen te beïnvloeden. Vrouwen & kleren laat de complexiteit van kledingkeuzes zien en openbaart de soms grappige, soms vreemde, maar altijd veelzeggende impulsen achter het dagelijkse aankleedritueel. Een briljante, unieke verkenning van de vragen die we onszelf elke dag bij het aankleden stellen, met antwoorden van meer dan zeshonderd vrouwen.

Onze hoofdpersoon is eind dertig, schrijver en woont met haar vriend in Toronto. Om haar heen worden al haar vriendinnen moeder, maar wil zij dat zelf eigenlijk wel? Overal zoekt ze naar antwoorden: ze stelt zichzelf en de mensen om haar heen vragen over het moederschap en probeert op die manier tot haar uiteindelijke beslissing te komen. Wat gebeurt er als een vrouw kiest voor iets dat buiten de verwachtingen van onze cultuur en maatschappij valt? Moederschap is een nieuwe, actuele en intelligente kijk op de rol van de vrouw in onze hedendaagse samenleving. Heti schrijft persoonlijk, oprecht en met veel humor over iets dat nog steeds taboe is: een vrouw die voor zichzelf wil leven, niet voor anderen.

Det litterære svar på HBO-serien "Girls". Sheila Heti fanger tidsånden perfekt i sin flimrende og rå prosa. "Hvordan skal man være som menneske?" er et råt, ærligt, provokerende og morsomt portræt af en ung kvinde og kunstner i et miljø, hvor drømme, ambitioner, sex og personlig formåen konstant er til debat. Sheila skriver blandt andet om forholdet til veninden Margaux og om elskeren Israel, der skubber til hendes seksuelle grænser. Samtidig forsøger Heti at svare på titelspørgsmålet i kortere tekster om hvad venskab, kærlighed, frihed, empati, ægteskab og skæbne er. Sheila Heti er 33 år og canadisk forfatter. Hun har tidligere udgivet en roman, en novellesamling og en samling filosofiske tekster. "Hvordan skal man være?" er hendes første roman på dansk.