Annie Proulx
Proulx at the 2018 U.S. National Book Festival
Proulx at the 2018 U.S. National Book Festival
BornEdna Ann Proulx
(1935-08-22) August 22, 1935
Norwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Pen nameE. Annie Proulx, E.A. Proulx
OccupationNovelist
EducationUniversity of Vermont (BA)
Sir George Williams University (MA)
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for Fiction
1994 The Shipping News
Children4

Edna Ann Proulx (/pruː/ PROO; born August 22, 1935) is an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. She has written most frequently as Annie Proulx but has also used the names E. Annie Proulx and E.A. Proulx.[1]

She won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her first novel, Postcards, making her the first woman to receive the prize.[2] Her second novel, The Shipping News (1993), won both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction[3] and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction[4] and was adapted as a 2001 film of the same name. Her short story "Brokeback Mountain" was adapted as an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe Award-winning motion picture released in 2005.

Personal life and education

Proulx was born Edna Ann Proulx in Norwich, Connecticut, to Lois Nellie (née Gill) and Georges-Napoléon Proulx.[5] Her first name honored one of her mother's aunts. She is of English and French-Canadian ancestry.[6][7] Her maternal forebears came to America in 1635, 15 years after the Mayflower arrived.[8]

Proulx lived in multiple states along the East Coast during her childhood as her father worked his way up through the textile industry.[9][10][11] She wrote her first story at the age of 10, while sick with chicken pox.[9] She graduated from Deering High School in Portland, Maine.[12] She briefly attended Colby College, where she met her first husband, H. Ridgely Bullock, Jr., and dropped out to marry him in 1955.[10] She later returned to college, studying at the University of Vermont from 1966 to 1969, and graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in history in 1969. She earned her M.A. in history from Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University) in Montreal, Quebec in 1973.[13] Proulx pursued a PhD at Concordia and passed her oral examinations in 1975, but abandoned her dissertation before completing the degree. In 1999, Concordia awarded her an honorary doctorate.[14]

Proulx lived for more than 30 years in Vermont, has married and divorced three times, and has three sons and a daughter (Jonathan, Gillis, Morgan, and Sylvia). In 1994, she moved to Bird Cloud, a ranch in Saratoga, Wyoming, spending part of the year in northern Newfoundland on a small cove adjacent to L'Anse aux Meadows. As of 2019, Proulx lived in Port Townsend, Washington.[15]

Writing career and recognition

Starting as a journalist, her first published work of fiction is "The Customs Lounge", a science fiction story published in the September 1963 issue of If, under the byline "E.A. Proulx".[16]

A year later, her science fiction story "All the Pretty Little Horses" appeared in the teen magazine Seventeen in June 1964. She subsequently published stories in Esquire magazine and Gray's Sporting Journal in the late 1970s, as well as how-to manuals for cooking and gardening.[17][18] Proulx published her first short-story collection, Heart Songs, in 1988 and her first novel, Postcards, in 1992.[11] She was the first woman to receive the PEN/Faulkner Award, which was awarded to Postcards.[19] She was awarded a NEA fellowship and a Guggenheim fellowship in 1992.[20][2]


She had the following comment on her celebrity status:

It's not good for one's view of human nature, that's for sure. You begin to see, when invitations are coming from festivals and colleges to come read (for an hour for a hefty sum of money), that the institutions are head-hunting for trophy writers. Most don't particularly care about your writing or what you're trying to say. You're there as a human object, one that has won a prize. It gives you a very odd, meat-rack kind of sensation.[21]

In 1997, Proulx was awarded the Dos Passos Prize, a mid-career award for American writers.[22] Proulx has twice won the O. Henry Prize for the year's best short story. In 1998, she won for "Brokeback Mountain", which had appeared in The New Yorker on October 13, 1997. Proulx won again the following year for "The Mud Below", which appeared in The New Yorker June 22 and 29, 1999. Both appear in her 1999 collection of short stories, Close Range: Wyoming Stories. The lead story in this collection, entitled "The Half-Skinned Steer", was selected by author Garrison Keillor for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories 1998, (Proulx herself edited the 1997 edition of this series) and later by novelist John Updike for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories of the Century (1999).[19]

In 2007, the composer Charles Wuorinen approached Proulx with the idea of turning her short story "Brokeback Mountain" into an opera. The opera of the same name with a libretto by Proulx herself premiered January 28, 2014, at the Teatro Real in Madrid. It was praised as an often brilliant adaptation that clearly conveyed the text of the libretto with music that is rich in imagination and variety.[23][24][25][26][27] Proulx published her first non-fiction book, Bird Cloud: A Memoir, largely based on her former Wyoming ranch of the same name.[18][28] In 2017, she received the Fitzgerald Award for that year for Achievement in American Literature.[29]

Bibliography

Nonfiction

  • Great grapes : grow the best ever. Pownal, Vermont: Storey Communications. 1980. ISBN 9780882662282.
  • Proulx, Annie; Nichols, Lew (1980). Sweet & hard cider : making it, using it, & enjoying it. Charlotte, Vermont: Garden Way Publishing.
  • Making the Best Apple Cider. Storey Communications. 1983. ISBN 9780882662220.
  • Plan and Make Your Own Fences & Gates, Walkways, Walls & Drives (1983), ISBN 0-87857-452-2
  • The Fine Art of Salad Gardening. 1985. ISBN 0-87857-528-6
  • The Gourmet Gardener: Growing Choice Fruits and Vegetables with Spectacular Results (1987), ISBN 0-449-90227-7
  • Cider: Making, Using & Enjoying Sweet and Hard Cider. Storey Communications. 2003. ISBN 9781580175203.
  • Bird Cloud: A Memoir (2011), ISBN 978-0-7432-8880-4
  • Foreword (2018) In: Wild Migrations: Atlas of Wyoming's Ungulates. Alethea Y. Steingisser, Emilene Ostlind, Hall Sawyer, James E. Meacham, Matthew J. Kauffman, and William J. Rudd (Eds.).ISBN 978-0870719431
  • Fen, Bog & Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis (2022)[30]

Essay

Novels

Short fiction

Collections

Stories

Title Year First published Reprinted/collected Notes
Rough deeds 2013 Proulx, Annie (June 10–17, 2013). "Rough deeds". The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 17. pp. 56–61.
A resolute man 2016 Proulx, Annie (March 21, 2016). "A resolute man". The New Yorker. Vol. 92, no. 6. pp. 76–85.
Annie Proulx receives the Prize for American Fiction from Carla Hayden at the 2018 National Book Festival.

Awards and recognition

Adaptations

References

  1. ↑ "Library of Congress Name Authorities: Proulx, Annie". Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Hartman, Steve (Fall 1999). "Annie Proulx's Close Range". New York State Writer's Institute. 4 (1).
  3. 1 2 "Fiction". Past winners & finalists by category. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  4. 1 2 "National Book Awards – 1993". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
    (With acceptance speech by Proulx and essays by Bob Shacochis and Mark Sarvas from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)
  5. ↑ NNDB
  6. ↑ Hennessy, D. M. (2007). Annie Proulx. In R. E. Lee & P. Meanor (Eds.), Dictionary of Literary Biography: Vol. 335. American Short-Story Writers Since World War II. Detroit: Gale.
  7. ↑ Annie Proulx. (2013). In J. W. Hunter (Ed.), Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 331). Detroit: Gale.
  8. ↑ Jukka Petäjä, Maisema on ihmisen kehys ja varjo, Helsingin Sanomat, October 26, 2011, pg. C4. (in Finnish)
  9. 1 2 3 4 Rimer, Sara (June 23, 1994). "At Home With: E. Annie Proulx; At Midlife, a Novelist Is Born". The New York Times. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  10. 1 2 McCarthy, Megan (April 1, 2013). "The Friction Between Past and Present: The American Dream Landscape and Identity in the Novels of Annie Proulx" (PDF). Georgetown Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 Cox, Christopher (2009). "Annie Proulx, The Art of Fiction No. 199". The Paris Review. Vol. Spring 2009, no. 188. ISSN 0031-2037. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Annie Proulx to receive honorary National Book Award". The Portland Press Herald. September 21, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Annie Proulx". www.concordia.ca. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Honorary Degree Citation - Annie Proulx | Concordia University Archives". archives.concordia.ca. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  15. ↑ Paz, Diane Urbani de la (April 30, 2019). "From witches to marijuana, Jefferson County authors cover the gamut". Peninsula Daily News.
  16. ↑ "The Customs Lounge in If, Volume 13 No 4, September 1963 – E. Annie Proulx". Retrieved March 18, 2007.
  17. ↑ Simonds, Merilyn (August 4, 2016). "Annie Proulx's Canadian connections". The Kingston Whig Standard. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  18. 1 2 Rock, Lucy (June 5, 2016). "Annie Proulx: 'I've had a life. I see how slippery things can be'". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  19. 1 2 3 Glossbrenner, Alfred; Glossbrenner, Emily (2000). About the author : the passionate reader's guide to the authors you love, including things you never knew, juicy bits you'll want to know, and hundreds of ideas for what to read next. San Diego: Harcourt. pp. 182–183. ISBN 9780156013024.
  20. ↑ "Annie Proulx". Dev John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation... Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  21. ↑ "Facts & Fiction – 97.11.12". (subscription only) The Atlantic Monthly. November 12, 1997.
  22. 1 2 Longwood University. "Past Recipients and Select Works". www.longwood.edu. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  23. ↑ Wise, Brian (January 30, 2014). "'Brokeback Mountain' Opera: The Critics Weigh In". wqxr.org. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  24. ↑ William Jeffery, "Brokeback Mountain Opera Receives World Premiere", Limelight Magazine (January 30, 2014).
  25. ↑ Westphal, Matthew (September 27, 2007). "'Gay 12-Tone Cowboys' - Composer Charles Wuorinen Plans Opera Version of Brokeback Mountain". Playbill. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Opera: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, Teatro Real;". Teatro-Real.com. October 2, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  27. ↑ Anthony Tommasini (January 29, 2014). "Operatic Cowboys in Love, Onstage". New York Times. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  28. ↑ Wyndham, Susan (March 4, 2011). "This is the house that Annie built". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  29. ↑ F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival; accessed March 24, 2022.
  30. ↑ Depenbrock, Julie (October 11, 2022). "In 'Fen, Bog & Swamp,' Annie Proulx pens a history of wetland destruction". NPR (interview). Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  31. ↑ "Heart songs / E. Annie Proulx". Catalogue. National Library of Australia.
  32. ↑ "Orange Prizes". Women & Children First. February 4, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  33. ↑ "Annie Proulx Wins National Book Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award". Association of Writers & Writing Programs. September 25, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  34. ↑ "The Annie Proulx Papers : 1935-2010 (bulk 1980-2007)". The New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  35. 1 2 Cheveresan, Christina (2007). "Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain Or "This Ain't No Little Thing"" (PDF). British and American Studies Journal. 13: 41–50.
  36. ↑ "The WILLA Literary Award – Women Writing the West". Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  37. ↑ "Prizes". The Paris Review. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  38. ↑ United States Artists Official Website
  39. ↑ Flood, Alison (September 22, 2017). "Annie Proulx wins high honour for writing on 'the beauty of rural America'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  40. ↑ "Annie Proulx wins Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction". The Washington Post. May 3, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018.

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