Sheila Heti (; born 25 December 1976) is a Canadian writer. Early life Sheila Heti was born on 25 December 1976 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her parents are Hungarian Jewish immigrants. Her brother is the comedian David Heti. Her father wanted to name her after Woody Allen but her mother was vociferously opposed. Sheila Heti attended St. Clement's School in Toronto. She then studied playwriting at the National Theatre School of Canada (leaving the program after one year), then art history and philosophy at the University of Toronto. She graduated from North Toronto Collegiate Institute in Toronto. Heti has described the Marquis de Sade and Henry Miller as early literary influences. Career Heti's writing spans a variety of genres, including plays, short fiction, and novels. She has contributed to periodicals including Flare, London Review of Books, Brick, Open Letters, Maisonneuve, Bookforum, n+1, the Look, McSweeney's, and the New York Times. Heti's books have been published internationally, including France, Italy, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark. She formerly worked as the interviews editor at The Believer where she also conducts interviews regularly. She contributed a column on acting to Maisonneuve. Heti is the creator of Trampoline Hall, a popular monthly lecture series based in Toronto and New York, at which people speak on subjects outside their areas of expertise. The New Yorker praised the series for "celebrating eccentricity and do-it-yourself inventiveness". It has sold out every show since its inception in December 2001. For the early part of 2008, Heti kept a blog called The Metaphysical Poll, where she posted the sleeping dreams people were having about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primary season, which readers sent in. Awards Now Best Emerging Author 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 KM Hunter Artists Award, 2002 Giller Prize shortlist, 2018 Acting and theater Heti was an actress as a child, and as a teenager appeared in shows directed by Hillar Liitoja, the founder and artistic director of the experimental DNA Theatre. She appears in Margaux Williamson's 2010 film, Teenager Hamlet, and plays Lenore Doolan in Leanne Shapton's book, Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry. In November 2013, Jordan Tannahill directed Heti's play All Our Happy Days Are Stupid at Toronto's Videofag. It was remounted in February 2015 at The Kitchen in New York. Heti's decade-long struggle to