“Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett’s fiction” —The New York Times
Ann Patchett is a celebrated author, a devoted reader and a champion of literary culture. She has written seven books and is a frequent contributor to many publications, including The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly and The Wall Street Journal. She has served on the board of the Nashville Public Library Foundation and in 2011, when the last of Nashville’s bookstores had been shuttered; Ann declared ”I have no interest in living in a city without a bookstore.” And so, in November of that year she opened Parnassus Books, a new refuge for the written word in the old “Athens of the South.”
In 2012 TIME named Ann one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for her efforts on behalf of the literary community. Writing of her friend on the occasion of that event, novelist Elizabeth Gilbert described Ann as “a woman of wisdom, determination, generosity and courage.”
Ann published her first story in The Paris Review while still a student at Sarah Lawrence College. Bel Canto, her fourth novel, was published in 2001 and was awarded the Orange Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. The world-renowned Lyric Opera Company of Chicago has commissioned a production based on that novel that will premiere in 2015. Her most recent novel State of Wonder was published in 2011. The Washington Post called that book “the smartest, most exciting novel of the summer” and Library Journal described it as “superbly rendered.” Ann is also the author of two works of nonfiction including Truth & Beauty, which won the Heartland Prize for Nonfiction in 2004.
There’s a pink brick home in Nashville, Tennessee with a wide porch surrounded by old trees. It’s Ann Patchett’s favorite place and it’s where she lives with her husband Karl and lots of books.
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An Afternoon / Evening with Ann Patchett… A celebrated writer and the owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, Ann Patchett is a champion of literary culture. In this presentation hear from the author who is described as “a woman of wisdom, determination, generosity and courage” by her friend and novelist Elizabeth Gilbert.
• Ann Patchett’s Website
• Ann Patchett’s Blog
Articles:
• “And the Winner Isn’t…” for The New York Times
• “Has the Sexual Revolution Been Good for Women? Yes” for The Wall Street Journal
Author photo by Melissa Ann Pinney
