Sweet Madness Book Club: 2011 Authors

Showing posts with label 2011 Authors. Show all posts

6.08.2011

Biography

Writing career - Notable accomplishments

Short story "Pilgrims" published in Esquire in 1993 - first unpublished author since Norman Mailer
Story "The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon" published in GQ in 1997 adapted into film Coyote Ugly (IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200550/)
Contributing writer for national magazines like SPIN, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, and Real Simple
Publishes first novel Stern Men in 2000
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, 2006
Eat, Pray, Love spent 199 weeks on the New York Times' Best Seller List
Named one of Time Magazine's Top 100 Influential People in the World in 2008
Film adaptation of Eat, Pray, Love - starring Julia Roberts - released in 2010 (IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0879870/)
Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, 2010

Literary Themes/Genres

Official Website (unfortunately designed in Comic Sans!): http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/
TED talk on Creativity: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/eng//id/453

Biography

Born Nov. 11, 1922 in Indianapolis to German-American parents
Attended Cornell University, enrolled in the Army during college
Mother committed suicide Mother's Day, 1944
As a soldier was captured as a prisoner of war during the Battle of the Bulge, 1944
Awarded a Purple Heart after returning home WWII
Married childhood sweetheart Jane Marie Cox; divorced 1979
Post-war he attended University of Chicago as a graduate student
Worked as a technical writer for General Electric
2nd wife: photographer Jill Krementz
Raised 7 children: Mark, Edith and Nannette from his first marriage; his late sister's sons James, Steven and Kurt Adams; and adopted daughter Lily
Attempted suicide himself in 1984
Graphic artist and illustrator, primarily for his own works
Lifetime member of American Civil Liberties Union
Died April 11, 2007

Writing Career - Notable Accomplishments

Novel Sirens of Titan, 1959
Novel Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death, 1969
Novel Cat's Cradle, 1973
Novel Breakfast of Champions, 1973
Novel Jailbird, 1979
Novel Timequake, 1997

Literary Themes/Genres

Official website: vonnegut.com

Biography

Born July 26, 1894 in Surrey, England
Descendant of English poet Matthew Arnold ("Dover Beach" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Beach )
Attended Eton College
Mother died in 1908
Illness in 1911 left him nearly blind for 2-3 years, keeping him from serving in WWI
Studied English literature at Balliol College in Oxford
Taught at Eton college for a year - one of his students was Eric Blair, pen name George Orwell
Worked at a chemical plant in the 1920s to pay his college debts to his father
Part of the "Bloomsbury Group" including writers Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forester
Moved to Hollywood, California in 1937
Wrote for some MGM films, including Pride and Prejudice (1940) and Jane Eyre (1944)
Wrote a script for Alice in Wonderland, which Walt Disney rejected. The Caterpillar, however, has characteristics inspired by Huxley's experiments with hallucinogens.
Married Maria Nys in 1919; she died of breast cancer in 1955. Remarried in 1956 to Laura Archera.
Diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 1960
On his deathbed asked his wife to administer intramuscular LSD, which she did
Died the afternoon of November 22, 1963, hours after JFK was assassinated
Media coverage of his death was overshadowed by that of JFK and C.S. Lewis, who also died on the 22nd of November.

Writing Career - Notable Accomplishments

Novel: Brave New World, 1932
Essay Collection: The Doors of Perception, 1954 - on his psychedelic drug experiences
Essay Collection: The Perennial Philosophy, 1955 - on spirituality and Vedanta (Veda-Centric Hinduism)
Novel: Island, 1962
Published 12 novels, 7 short story collections, 9 poetry collections, 23 essay collections, 8 screenplays, 6 dramas, 2 children's books, 47 articles for Verdanta and the West, and 3 travel books.

Literary Themes/Genres

Biography

Born November 18, 1939 in Ontario, Canada
Started writing at age 6; eventually graduated from college with a degree in English
Earned a master's degree from Harvard's Radcliffe College in 1962
Attended Harvard for graduate studies but never finished her dissertation and therefore did not graduate
Has taught at 6 different universities since 1965
Has received over 55 awards in Canada and internationally
Holds honorary degrees from 16 colleges, including Smith College, University of Toronto and Harvard University

Writing Career - Notable Accomplishments

Has published 13 novels, 9 short story collections, 19 poetry collections, 6 children's books, and 9 works of non-fiction to date
Poetry: The Circle Game, 1964 - winner of the 1966 Governor General's Award
Novel: The Handmaids Tale, 1985
Short Fiction: Wilderness Tips, 1991
Novel: The Robber Bride, 1993 (made into a film for TV in 2007)
Novel: The Blind Assassin, 2000 - winner of the 2000 Booker Prize
Novel: Oryx and Crake, 2003

Literary Themes/Genres

Poetry often inspired by myths and fairy tales
The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake are considered science fiction, which at one time offended Atwood, who considers them "speculative fiction" - something that could actually happen.