Advertisement
A Young Writer's Gifts Keep Giving In 'The Opposite Of Loneliness'
Resume"We don't have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I could say that's what I want in life." These are the words of Marina Keegan, an aspiring writer with a bright future. Her essay, "The Opposite of Loneliness" was published in the Yale Daily News just before graduating from Yale in 2012.
The essay launched Marina into the national spotlight, receiving more than 1.4 million hits from people across 98 countries. She didn't get to witness the full impact of her work, however, because sive days after graduation, Marina was killed in a car accident.
Marina's dream was to be a published writer and, in her short life, she went a long way to achieving that dream. Her nonfiction appeared in The New York Times and the New Yorker published Marina's fiction after her death and her musical, "Independents," debuted at the New York International Fringe Festival.
But still, months after Marina passed away, her parents asked themselves a searing, painful, but profoundly loving question. Though she's gone, how can we help our daughter fulfill her dreams? The answer is the new book, "The Opposite of Loneliness," a collection of Marina Keegan's essays and stories that's out this month.
Guests
Tracy and Kevin Keegan, Marina's parents.
Anne Fadiman, professor of English at Yale University.
More
The New York Times: Her First, And Last, Book
- "The book is a triumph, but also a tragedy — for it’s posthumous. 'I cry because everything is so beautiful and so short,' Keegan wrote in one of her poems."
Yale Daily News: Even Artichokes Have Doubts
- "If this year is anything like the last 10, around 25 percent of employed Yale graduates will enter the consulting or finance industry*. This is a big deal. This is a huge deal. This is so many people! This is one-fourth of our people! Regardless of what you think or with whom you’re interviewing, we ought to be pausing for a second to ask why."
NPR: Stopping The 'Brain Drain' Of The U.S. Economy
- "Yale University student Marina Keegan received an email last May from Bridgewater Associates, one of the world's largest hedge funds, offering her $100 if she said why she didn't apply for a summer internship. Keegan, an English major, decided to take Bridgewater up on its offer. 'It was only sort of once I was inside the room when I realized, maybe I'm helping them perfect their recruiting machine, which is exactly what we were doing,' Keegan tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz."
This segment aired on May 1, 2014.