Lydia Peelle

Lydia Peelle
Born
Lydia Child Peelle Edit this on Wikidata

August 31, 1978 Edit this on Wikidata
Boston Edit this on Wikidata
EducationUniversity of Virginia, Phillips Exeter Academy, Cornell University Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationsShort story writer, novelist, speechwriter, teacher Edit this on Wikidata
Employer
SpouseKetch Secor Edit this on Wikidata
Awards

Lydia Peelle is an American fiction writer. In 2009 the National Book Foundation named her a "5 under 35" Honoree.

Early life

Peelle grew up in Massachusetts and attended a boarding school in New Hampshire before her college years.[1]

Career

Before her writing career, Peelle worked as a speechwriter for Governor Phil Bredesen of Tennessee. She has also worked as a wildlife rehabilitator and an English teacher.[2] She received a creative writing MFA from the University of Virginia and has been a fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and at the Ucross Foundation, Yaddo, and the Ragdale Foundation.[2] Since 2012 she has taught in the MFA program at Southern New Hampshire University.[2] Her short fiction has appeared in Granta, The Sun, Orion, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere.[3]

Awards

The short story "Mule Killers" was published in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2006 as judged by Kevin Brockmeier, Francine Prose, and Colm Tóibín, and edited by Laura Furman.[8]

Works

  • The Midnight Cool. Harper Perennial. 2017. ISBN 978-0-06247-546-6.
  • Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing. Harper Perennial. 2009. ISBN 978-0-06172-473-2.
    • "Phantom Pain," Originally published in Granta 102: The New Nature Writing, Summer 2008[9]
    • "Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing," Originally published in One Story, Issue 87, January 2007[10]

Peelle's novel The Midnight Cool, set in Tennessee in 1916, follows two horse traders who turn to trading mules for the U.S. war effort in Europe.[11] Her debut story collection, Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing, was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice book and a finalist for the Orion Book Award, in addition to receiving an honorable mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award.[2]

Personal

Peelle was named for her great-great-aunt, abolitionist Lydia Maria Child. She married musician and bandleader Ketch Secor in 2001, in North Andover, Massachusetts.[12] They have two children, a daughter and a son, and divorced in 2018.[13][14][15] Peelle lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

References

  1. ↑ "Reasons for and Advantages of Fiction". Chapter 16. Humanities Tennessee. Retrieved August 20, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Lydia Peelle". Whiting Foundation. Retrieved August 20, 2026.
  3. 1 2 "Lydia Peelle". www.whiting.org. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  4. ↑ "5 Under 35 Fiction Selections for 2009, The National Book Foundation". www.nationalbook.org. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Lydia Peelle Brings a Prestigious Whiting Award and $50,000 Home to Tennessee". Nashville Scene. Retrieved August 20, 2026.
  6. ↑ "List of PEN/Hemingway Winners | The Hemingway Society". www.hemingwaysociety.org. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  7. ↑ Staff, Weekly (March 19, 2012). "Lydia Peelle Named Winner of Anahid Literary Prize". The Armenian Weekly. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  8. ↑ THE O. HENRY PRIZE STORIES 2006 | Kirkus Reviews.
  9. ↑ "Granta 102: The New Nature Writing". Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  10. ↑ "One Story – Stories [ Issue #87 ]". www.one-story.com. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Author event with Lydia Peelle, author of The Midnight Cool". Parnassus Books. Retrieved August 20, 2026.
  12. ↑ Ellin, Abby (November 11, 2001). "WEDDINGS: VOWS; Lydia Peelle and Ketch Secor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  13. ↑ Woodward, Garret K. (April 1, 2023). "Old Crow Medicine Show's Singer Wants to Talk Gun Reform With State Leaders After Nashville Shooting". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  14. ↑ Fisher, Mel (January 26, 2022). "Old Crow Medicine Show share buoyant "Bombs Away" featuring Molly Tuttle". Louisville Public Media. Retrieved December 10, 2025.
  15. ↑ "Ketch Secor on Being in the Ken Burns Documentary". YouTube. Retrieved December 14, 2025.
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