Helen DeWitt

Helen DeWitt was born in a suburb of Washington, DC. Daughter of American diplomats, she grew up mainly in Latin America, living in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador. She went to Oxford to study classics for a BA and D.Phil. She left academia to try to write a novel, moving eventually to London and acquiring UK citizenship. She had some 100 fragments of novels when she began work in 1995 on the novel that was published as The Last Samurai in 2000. The book caused a sensation at the Frankfurt Bookfair 1999, going on to be translated in 20 languages (DeWitt reads some 15 languages to various degrees of fluency). On the reissue of The Last Samurai by New Directions in 2016 it was hailed by Vulture Magazine as The Best Book of the Century. She is also the author of Lightning Rods, a Mel Brooksian satire on sexual harassment, and Some Trick, a collection of stories. She has been based in Berlin since 2004, but also spends time at a cottage in the woods of Vermont improving her chainsaw skills.

Helen DeWitt

Books by Helen DeWitt

Lightning Rods
Helen DeWitt
Hardback, 2005
The long-awaited second novel by the author of “arguably the most exciting debut novel of the decade: The Last Samurai.” (Sam Anderson, New York).
Lightning Rods
Helen DeWitt
Paperback, 2012
From the acclaimed author of The Last Samurai, Lightning Rods is "the most well-executed literary sex comedy" of our time.
The Last Samurai
Helen DeWitt
Paperback, 2016
Called “remarkable” (The Wall Street Journal) and “an ambitious, colossal debut novel” (Publishers Weekly), Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai is back in print at last
Some Trick: Thirteen Stories
Helen DeWitt
Hardback, 2018
At last a new book: a baker’s dozen of stories all with Helen DeWitt’s razor-sharp genius

Finalist for theSaroyan Prize for Fiction

NPR Best Book of the Year

New York Public Library's Best Books...
Some Trick
Helen DeWitt
Paperback, 2019
Hailed a “Best Book of the Year” by NPR, Publishers Weekly, Vulture, and the New York Public Library, Some Trick is now in paperback
Finalist for theSaroyan Prize for Fiction
Lightning Rods
Helen DeWitt
E Book, 2011
The long-awaited second novel by the author of “arguably the most exciting debut novel of the decade: The Last Samurai.” (Sam Anderson, New York).
The Last Samurai
Helen DeWitt
E Book, 2016
Called “remarkable” (The Wall Street Journal) and “an ambitious, colossal debut novel” (Publishers Weekly), Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai is back in print at last
Some Trick
Helen DeWitt
E Book, 2019
Hailed a “Best Book of the Year” by NPR, Publishers Weekly, Vulture, and the New York Public Library, Some Trick is now in paperback
Finalist for theSaroyan Prize for Fiction
The English Understand Wool
Helen DeWitt
Hardback, 2022
Maman was exigeante—there is no English word—and I had the benefit of her training. Others may not be so fortunate. If some other young girl, with two million dollars at stake, finds this of use I...
The English Understand Wool
Helen DeWitt
E Book, 2022
Maman was exigeante—there is no English word—and I had the benefit of her training. Others may not be so fortunate. If some other young girl, with two million dollars at stake, finds this of use I...