Rufi Thorpe

Rufi Thorpe
Thorpe in 2025
Born1985 (age 40–41)
Dallas, Texas, US
AreaWriter
Notable works
Margo's Got Money Troubles
www.rufithorpe.com

Rufi Thorpe (born 1985) is an American novelist and nonfiction writer. Her books have been longlisted or finalists for several literary awards including the International Dylan Thomas Prize, PEN/Faulkner Award, and Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. Her novel Margo's Got Money Troubles was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and was adapted for television.

Life and education

Thorpe was born in Dallas, but moved to Southern California starting at the age of 6, where she was raised by a single mother. She attended Phillips Exeter Academy, but left early to attend Eugene Lang College in New York where she studied philosophy and literature, graduating in 2006. She was a Henry Hoyns Fellow at the University of Virginia where she received a Master of Fine Arts in 2009. She lives in California with her husband and two sons.

Writing career and bibliography

Thorpe is the author of four novels and has written for magazines, newspapers and online publications such as the New York Times, Vela, Poets & Writers and Literary Hub.

Her first novel, The Girls from Corona del Mar, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2014, was longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize.

Thorpe's next novel, Dear Fang, with Love, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2016, was given a starred review by Publishers Weekly, and was said by Kirkus Reviews to be, "Melancholic and whimsical at once, Thorpe's novel is bumpy, quirky, and wholly original."

Knockout Queen, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2020, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.

Thorpe's book Margo's Got Money Troubles, William Morrow (New York, NY), June 11, 2024, has been adapted into a television series on Apple TV.

Accolades include:

References

  1. ↑ "A Stupid Man: Rufi Thorpe on the Influence of Czesław Miłosz and Writing While Female". Los Angeles Review of Books. August 11, 2016.
  2. ↑ Haber, Leigh (April 5, 2024). "Rufi Thorpe Goes to the Mat". Publishers Weekly.
  3. 1 2 Garrity, Patrick (August 12, 2024). "Art & Agency". Exeter.edu.
  4. ↑ "Interview with Knopf Author Rufi Thorpe '06". May 3, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Southern California Writer's Association" (PDF). Southerncalwriters.org. June 2020. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Airtable | Everyone's app platform". Airtable.com. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  7. ↑ Zimmerman, Greg (April 8, 2025). "'Like she just handed you a magic wand': Get to Know StoryBoard Instructor Rufi Thorpe". Storystudiochicago.org.
  8. ↑ Thorpe, Rufi (December 20, 2014). "Standing Out, Uncomfortably, in a First Job". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  9. ↑ "Why I Didn't See the David (and other methodologies of heartbreak)". Velamag.com. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Perversity of Spirit: What It Takes to Be a Writer". Poets & Writers. August 19, 2014.
  11. ↑ Thorpe, Rufi (May 24, 2016). "Actually, All Writers Steal".
  12. ↑ "Dear Fang, with Love by Rufi Thorpe". Publishers Weekly.
  13. ↑ "Dear Fang, With Love". Kirkus Reviews.
  14. ↑ "Announcing the Winner of the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction | the PEN/Faulkner Foundation".
  15. ↑ "Watch Margo's Got Money Troubles - Apple TV". Apple TV.
  16. ↑ "Kirkus Prize 2024: The Fiction Finalists". Kirkus Reviews.
  17. ↑ Margo's got money troubles. William Morrow. 2025.
  18. ↑ Hasic, Albinko (September 23, 2025). "Finalists Announced for the 2025 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award - Mark Twain House". Marktwainhouse.org.
  19. ↑ "OverDrive Announces Winners of The Libbys, The Second Annual Libby Book Awards". March 5, 2025.
  20. ↑ "Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe". Bookofthemonth.com.
  21. ↑ "Jacket" (PDF). Libraryreads.org. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  22. ↑ "'Margo's Got Money Troubles' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2024". Time.com. November 13, 2024. Retrieved July 12, 2026.