Louise Marburg is the author of three collections of stories, the most recent being You Have Reached Your Destination, which was favorably reviewed in the New York Times and the Washington Post. She has been published in such journals as Story, The Hudson Review, Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, and many others. Marburg studied design at the Kansas City Art Institute, is a graduate of New York University’s Gallatin Division, and holds an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She has been a scholar at the Sewanee Writers Conference and a fellow at the Kenyon Writing Workshops, and her work has been supported by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. A native of Baltimore, she lives in New York City with her husband, the artist Charles Marburg. Fancy Meeting You is her first novel.

“Fancy Meeting You is a coming-of-age novel—that age being fifty—that performs neat trick after neat trick till you’ve fallen hard for its deeply flawed, deeply insightful, deeply funny narrator and her family and friends (and enemies and enablers). What a delight it is to spend a few hours in Louise Marburg’s Baltimore with this beautifully developed—fascinating, heartfelt, maddening, and unusual—cast of characters.”—Laurie Frankel, Enormous Wings and This Is How It Always Is“Oh, how delicious: a funny, flawed, entirely sympathetic main character who’s her own worst influence. The writing is so good, the descriptions so keen-eyed, that I often thought, “I wish I could do that.” Fancy Meeting Youis all at once tenderhearted and wickedly wry. Brava, Louise Marburg!”—Elinor Lipman, Every Tom, Dick & HarryMs. Demeanor“Fancy Meeting You is a smart, funny, high-speed romp with a heroine who will keep you perched and ready for anything. With impeccable comic timing, Louise Marburg also has the daring to skate as close as possible to life’s dark edges, sometimes bringing us to that suspenseful place of wondering: do I laugh or do I cry?”—Jill McCorkle, Old Crimes and Hieroglyphics“Fancy meeting Laura Harrigan, a sharp-witted prevaricator partying like there’s no tomorrow. Can this perceptive woman break free from her emotional armor? Marburg’s shrewd novel explores the intersection of society and loneliness and one woman’s search for meaning in a fractured world.”—Elizabeth McKenzie, The Dog of the North and The Portable Veblen“Sharply funny, brutally honest, and surprising in the best possible ways, Fancy Meeting You entertains as it enlightens. Marburg’s portrait of a woman stuck is among the truest, and readers will relish following Laura’s turbulent journey, even as they identify with her struggles to grow. When it comes to laughs per page, no one has Marburg beat.”—R. L. Maizes,A Complete Fiction“There are few authors who make me laugh more than Louise Marburg. Her novel,Fancy Meeting You, offers everything you already expect from Louise Marburg—her sharp ear for dialogue and sly wit, plus so much more: the search for love, superb storytelling, and a cast of secondary characters who surprise and annoy and delight. If you crave a high ratio of laughs per page and an unconventional female protagonist, this is the novel for you.”—Lori Ostlund,Are You Happy?Praise for Marburg’s last story collection:“Marburg’s characters find themselves in lives they don’t quite recognize, searching for signposts that can lead them forward or tell them who they are… These characters are as quirky as they are full of heart. Even in the thralls of defeat, these stories traffic in hope.”—Brenda Peynado, The New York Times“Delightfully jaded wisdom buoys You Have Reached Your Destination…even the seemingly whimsical carries the weight of truth.”—Daphne Kalotay, The Washington Post

Louise Marburg is the author of three collections of stories, the most recent being You Have Reached Your Destination, which was favorably reviewed in the New York Times and the Washington Post. She has been published in such journals as Story, The Hudson Review, Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, and many others. Marburg studied design at the Kansas City Art Institute, is a graduate of New York University’s Gallatin Division, and holds an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She has been a scholar at the Sewanee Writers Conference and a fellow at the Kenyon Writing Workshops, and her work has been supported by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. A native of Baltimore, she lives in New York City with her husband, the artist Charles Marburg. Fancy Meeting You is her first novel.

“Fancy Meeting You is a coming-of-age novel—that age being fifty—that performs neat trick after neat trick till you’ve fallen hard for its deeply flawed, deeply insightful, deeply funny narrator and her family and friends (and enemies and enablers). What a delight it is to spend a few hours in Louise Marburg’s Baltimore with this beautifully developed—fascinating, heartfelt, maddening, and unusual—cast of characters.”—Laurie Frankel, Enormous Wings and This Is How It Always Is“Oh, how delicious: a funny, flawed, entirely sympathetic main character who’s her own worst influence. The writing is so good, the descriptions so keen-eyed, that I often thought, “I wish I could do that.” Fancy Meeting Youis all at once tenderhearted and wickedly wry. Brava, Louise Marburg!”—Elinor Lipman, Every Tom, Dick & HarryMs. Demeanor“Fancy Meeting You is a smart, funny, high-speed romp with a heroine who will keep you perched and ready for anything. With impeccable comic timing, Louise Marburg also has the daring to skate as close as possible to life’s dark edges, sometimes bringing us to that suspenseful place of wondering: do I laugh or do I cry?”—Jill McCorkle, Old Crimes and Hieroglyphics“Fancy meeting Laura Harrigan, a sharp-witted prevaricator partying like there’s no tomorrow. Can this perceptive woman break free from her emotional armor? Marburg’s shrewd novel explores the intersection of society and loneliness and one woman’s search for meaning in a fractured world.”—Elizabeth McKenzie, The Dog of the North and The Portable Veblen“Sharply funny, brutally honest, and surprising in the best possible ways, Fancy Meeting You entertains as it enlightens. Marburg’s portrait of a woman stuck is among the truest, and readers will relish following Laura’s turbulent journey, even as they identify with her struggles to grow. When it comes to laughs per page, no one has Marburg beat.”—R. L. Maizes,A Complete Fiction“There are few authors who make me laugh more than Louise Marburg. Her novel,Fancy Meeting You, offers everything you already expect from Louise Marburg—her sharp ear for dialogue and sly wit, plus so much more: the search for love, superb storytelling, and a cast of secondary characters who surprise and annoy and delight. If you crave a high ratio of laughs per page and an unconventional female protagonist, this is the novel for you.”—Lori Ostlund,Are You Happy?Praise for Marburg’s last story collection:“Marburg’s characters find themselves in lives they don’t quite recognize, searching for signposts that can lead them forward or tell them who they are… These characters are as quirky as they are full of heart. Even in the thralls of defeat, these stories traffic in hope.”—Brenda Peynado, The New York Times“Delightfully jaded wisdom buoys You Have Reached Your Destination…even the seemingly whimsical carries the weight of truth.”—Daphne Kalotay, The Washington Post

Louise Marburg is the author of three collections of stories, the most recent being You Have Reached Your Destination, which was favorably reviewed in the New York Times and the Washington Post. She has been published in such journals as Story, The Hudson Review, Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, and many others. Marburg studied design at the Kansas City Art Institute, is a graduate of New York University’s Gallatin Division, and holds an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She has been a scholar at the Sewanee Writers Conference and a fellow at the Kenyon Writing Workshops, and her work has been supported by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. A native of Baltimore, she lives in New York City with her husband, the artist Charles Marburg. Fancy Meeting You is her first novel.

“Fancy Meeting You is a coming-of-age novel—that age being fifty—that performs neat trick after neat trick till you’ve fallen hard for its deeply flawed, deeply insightful, deeply funny narrator and her family and friends (and enemies and enablers). What a delight it is to spend a few hours in Louise Marburg’s Baltimore with this beautifully developed—fascinating, heartfelt, maddening, and unusual—cast of characters.”—Laurie Frankel, Enormous Wings and This Is How It Always Is“Oh, how delicious: a funny, flawed, entirely sympathetic main character who’s her own worst influence. The writing is so good, the descriptions so keen-eyed, that I often thought, “I wish I could do that.” Fancy Meeting Youis all at once tenderhearted and wickedly wry. Brava, Louise Marburg!”—Elinor Lipman, Every Tom, Dick & HarryMs. Demeanor“Fancy Meeting You is a smart, funny, high-speed romp with a heroine who will keep you perched and ready for anything. With impeccable comic timing, Louise Marburg also has the daring to skate as close as possible to life’s dark edges, sometimes bringing us to that suspenseful place of wondering: do I laugh or do I cry?”—Jill McCorkle, Old Crimes and Hieroglyphics“Fancy meeting Laura Harrigan, a sharp-witted prevaricator partying like there’s no tomorrow. Can this perceptive woman break free from her emotional armor? Marburg’s shrewd novel explores the intersection of society and loneliness and one woman’s search for meaning in a fractured world.”—Elizabeth McKenzie, The Dog of the North and The Portable Veblen“Sharply funny, brutally honest, and surprising in the best possible ways, Fancy Meeting You entertains as it enlightens. Marburg’s portrait of a woman stuck is among the truest, and readers will relish following Laura’s turbulent journey, even as they identify with her struggles to grow. When it comes to laughs per page, no one has Marburg beat.”—R. L. Maizes,A Complete Fiction“There are few authors who make me laugh more than Louise Marburg. Her novel,Fancy Meeting You, offers everything you already expect from Louise Marburg—her sharp ear for dialogue and sly wit, plus so much more: the search for love, superb storytelling, and a cast of secondary characters who surprise and annoy and delight. If you crave a high ratio of laughs per page and an unconventional female protagonist, this is the novel for you.”—Lori Ostlund,Are You Happy?Praise for Marburg’s last story collection:“Marburg’s characters find themselves in lives they don’t quite recognize, searching for signposts that can lead them forward or tell them who they are… These characters are as quirky as they are full of heart. Even in the thralls of defeat, these stories traffic in hope.”—Brenda Peynado, The New York Times“Delightfully jaded wisdom buoys You Have Reached Your Destination…even the seemingly whimsical carries the weight of truth.”—Daphne Kalotay, The Washington Post