About the Book

A New York Times 2023 Notable Book

Named a best book of 2023 by The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fresh Air, and many more media outlets and publications

Winner of the Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose

In this unflinching, deeply personal book that expands on her 2017 essay, "What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?," Claire Dederer asks: Can we love the work of Hemingway, Polanski, Miles Davis, or Picasso? Should we love it? Does genius deserve special dispensation? Is male monstrosity the same as female monstrosity? Highly topical, morally wise, honest to the core, Monsters has incited a cultural conversation about whether and how we can separate artists from their art. 

About the Author

Claire Dederer is a memoirist, essayist, and critic. Her books include the critically acclaimed Love and Trouble: A Midlife Reckoning; and Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses, which was a New York Times bestseller.

Dederer is a longtime contributor to The New York Times. Her essays, criticism, and reviews have also appeared in The Paris Review, The Atlantic, The Nation, Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, Entertainment Weekly, New York magazine, Slate, Salon, and many other publications. She began her career as the chief film critic for Seattle Weekly.

Dederer is the recipient of a Hedgebrook residency and a Lannan Foundation residency. She lives in Seattle.