Emily

Habeck

Bestselling Debut Novelist

#1 Indie Next Pick

Travels from: Boston, MA

“Beguiling…Habeck’s setup allows her to grapple with big questions…[and] imbues the smallest interactions and moments with poetic weight… Surprising and pleasurably uncategorizable. Shark Heart is wild, in every sense of the word.” — New York Times Book Review

Emily Habeck holds a BFA in Theater from Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts and master’s degrees from Vanderbilt Divinity School and Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. Her bestselling debut novel, Shark Heart: A Love Story, was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, a Book of the Month selection, a finalist for Book of the Year, a Goodreads choice award nominee, and the #1 Indie Next pick for August 2023. In 2024, Shark Heart was also shortlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award and the Brooklyn Library Book Prize. Emily is from Ardmore, Oklahoma and currently lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Emily's Featured Titles

Shark Heart: A Love Story

S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books |

August 8, 2023

Literary Fiction

For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams.

At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with a college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds. Woven throughout this bold novel is the story of Wren’s mother, Angela, who becomes pregnant with Wren at fifteen in an abusive relationship amidst her parents’ crumbling marriage. In the present, all of Wren’s grief eventually collides, and she is forced to make an impossible choice.

A sweeping love story that is at once lyrical and funny, airy and visceral, Shark Heart is an unforgettable, gorgeous novel about life’s perennial questions, the fragility of memories, finding joy amidst grief, and creating a meaningful life. This daring debut marks the arrival of a wildly talented new writer abounding with originality, humor, and heart.

Fantasy, Speculative & Science Fiction, Fiction, Grief & Loss, Natural World, Romance & Romantacy

Great white sharks and the human experience

What great white sharks have taught me about adaptability, loneliness, beauty, and fear of the unknown.

Essential weirdness

What makes a work of literature or art weird? And why is weirdness compelling to some and repelling others? In this talk, I’ll share my experience writing and publishing a “weird” novel, and why in creating it, I never thought it was anywhere near strange.

Author Q&A

Ask me anything— really, I mean it! I love to engage in informal dialogues about the writing life and the creative process (with or without a conversation partner).

Format options (virtual or in person)

Writers Conferences
Keynote Presentations
Literary and Book Festivals
One Book, One Community Events
All Campus Read Events

I am happy to craft a talk around a particular theme or topic as well!

The Nature of Ideas: Nurturing Inspiration and Noticing Worlds Within

Every great story begins with an idea that captivates the writer. In this workshop, participants will engage in a playful exploration of their imaginations, delving into their experiences, emotions, and intuition to discover fresh ideas. All levels of experience are welcome. (Participants: 10-20)
Note for participants: Please bring a journal and writing utensil (or a laptop if that’s your preferred writing tool). Additionally, bring something that inspires you creatively. This could be a passage from a book, a song, a screenshot of a famous painting, a photograph your friend took, a film still from an old movie, a small object from nature, a funny voicemail, or anything else from your life.

“Emily captivated Deschutes County readers! The Novel Idea project has been enriched by her participation.” — Deschutes Public Library, 2024

“Shark Heart is a fantastical, original, and beautifully-written novel of abandonment, love, and Ovidian transformation. It explores illness, caretaking, devotion, magical thinking, and loss—and of course great white sharks—in ways that are funny, sad, and surprising. Every page bursts with heart.” — Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land

“In Shark Heart, Emily Habeck doesn’t shy away from the agony of goodbyes, or the torture that can accompany unexpected freedom. With an otherworldly tenderness, she reminds us that life will always demand that we give over to its momentum and adapt. The fact that these lessons are thrilling, hilarious, and effortless to read are the miracle of the book. I suspect I will ponder this book over and over; so rich with fantasy yet as frank and real as anything I’ve ever read.” — Mary-Louise Parker, author of Dear Mr. You

“Prepare for tears, yes, but also to marvel at how Habeck’s precise yet lyrical prose makes this absurd situation feel normal—even beautiful. It’s quite a feat to weave such a wild speculative element into a story that feels fundamentally relatable, resonant, human. Yes, Shark Heart is the kind of delightfully original story I adore, and the sort of book I’ll be pressing into the hands of friends with a vigorous nod. Yes, it actually works.”— Shelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

“A tender story about the endurance of a married couple’s love… Vulnerable and devastating.” — PopSugar

“A highly original, heart-rending story about abiding love that transcends trauma, grief—and even metamorphosis.” — Washington Post, “10 Noteworthy Books for July and August”

“Surprisingly moving, oddly heartwarming, and deeply contemplative.” — Bookpage

“Habeck’s debut explores the nature of grief through deft and beautiful writing… Poetic interludes and play-like vignettes punctuate the lyrical prose” — Booklist (starred review)

“A bit Shakespeare, a bit Kafka, and a bit Disney… [this] debut stands out from the pack.” — Kirkus Reviews

“A poignant tale of grief and change.” — Town and Country

Emily’s News Link

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Honors, Awards & Recognition

Shortlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award
Shortlisted for the Brooklyn Library Book Prize
New York Times Editor’s Choice
National Bestseller
#1 Indie Next Pick
ABA Indies Introduce selection
Book of the Month Selection
Goodreads Choice Nominee in the Fiction and Debut categories