Bonnie Garmus at a Glance

Full Name: Bonnie Jean Garmus

How to Pronounce: BAH-nee GAR-muss

Born: April 18, 1957

Nationality: United States

Education:

• University of California in Santa Cruz (BA, Creative Writing)

Genres:

• Adult fiction

Biography & Background

Bonnie Garmus Biography

Bonnie Garmus burst onto the literary scene with her debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, in 2022. She was born in California and earned her bachelor’s degree in creative writing from University of California, Santa Cruz, although she considers Seattle her home. A copywriter and creative director, Garmus was inspired to write Lessons in Chemistry after a particularly frustrating meeting in which a man took credit for her ideas. She relates the story in her interview with the Los Angeles Times: “It was a really great thing in a way because I was in such a bad mood, that instead of working on the deadline I was supposed to be working on, I sat down that day, and I wrote the first chapter of Lessons in Chemistry” (Villarreal, Yvonne. “Bonnie Garmus.” Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2023). She sees the experience as a lesson in “constructive anger.”

Lessons in Chemistry wasn’t the first book Garmus wrote, however; she submitted an earlier novel to publishers, and it was rejected 98 times before she turned her attention to her next work.