Alumni News, Recent Releases

Heyman's Short Story Collection Praised

A new book of short stories by Arlene Heyman ’63, Scary Old Sex, has received warm praise since its publication early in 2016.

Barnes and Noble calls it a “stunning, taboo-breaking debut." It received a starred review in Kirkus, applauded the first-time author for “lay[ing] bare truths—some comforting, others uncomfortable—about love and sex, aging and acceptance.” 

In recent weeks, the book has also been featured in VogueThe Telegraph, and The Guardian. A review in The New York Times notes that the author studied with Bernard Malamud when she attended Bennington College, and in its praise of the book counsels that "the stories in Scary Old Sex aren’t soft. A few take startling turns and have edges made from razor wire."

Dr. Heyman is a psychiatrist in New York City. She wrote the book over the course of thirty years; two of the collected pieces have been included in The Best American Short Stories lists.