Fiction alum Emily Hunt Kivel '20 published her debut novel, Dwelling, with Farrar, Straus and Giroux on August 5, 2025. The surrealist, fairytale-take on the housing crisis follows the hapless Evie on a move to bizarre Gulluck, Texas, after every renter in the country is evicted en masse.
The novel’s situation is absurd upon absurd: Evie is an orphan whose sister has been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hippie commune, left totally alone to navigate the end of the housing market, when she remembers a distant relative in Texas. The town is beyond the known world, home to albino cicadas, cobblers, and thieves, and, hopefully, Evie. Gulluck’s strange logic invites miracles that just might bring Evie some semblance of justice, and belonging.
Dwelling debuted to soaring praise from critics. Associate Professor Rivka Galchen '06 said of Dwelling, “At once philosophical, goofy, poetic and so, so smart—I would follow Emily Hunt Kivel anywhere.”
Publisher’s Weekly awarded Dwelling a starred review, writing “Kivel debuts with a rollicking and resonant modern fairy tale of real estate and its discontents… as [she] brings her weird and wonderful cast of characters to vibrant life, she never drops the incisive real-world commentary on the housing crisis and rising inequality. The result is a sui generis delight.”
Jo Hamya, critic for The New York Times Book Review, said of Kivel’s first novel, “It’s hard to believe that a work so seemingly effortless and original could be a debut. Certainly, it’s the most fun I’ve had reading in years.”
Alexandra Kleeman '12, acclaimed author and Guggenheim Fellow, heralded Kivel in her blurb: “Dwelling announces the arrival of a new voice in literature who is exhilaratingly up to the task.”
Beyond the industry buzz, though, is a readable, relatable story. “Dwelling holds a funhouse mirror to our moment—for anyone in search of space, belonging, and some semblance of justice,” said FSG.
Kivel’s short fiction has appeared in publications like The Paris Review, BOMB, American Short Fiction, New England Review, and Guernica. Her short story “The Sea Captain” was a finalist for the National Magazine Award. Kivel received the De Alba Fellowship in Fiction while she attended Columbia and currently serves as the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Scholar in Residence at the University of Houston.
