Emily Habeck

Emily Habeck is an American novelist from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who holds a BFA in theater from Southern Methodist University and master's degrees from Vanderbilt Divinity School and Vanderbilt's Peabody College. Her debut novel, Shark Heart: A Love Story (2023), imagines a newlywed husband slowly transforming into a great white shark, using the strange premise to explore grief, caregiving, and the limits of love as illness reshapes a marriage, while also threading in his wife's family history across generations. The novel became a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, a Book of the Month pick, and the #1 Indie Next selection for August 2023, and was later shortlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award, the Kitschies Golden Tentacle Prize, and the Brooklyn Library Book Prize, as well as a Goodreads Choice Award finalist. Habeck's background in theater and religious studies informs the novel's blend of magical realism and quiet emotional attentiveness.