Anne Fadiman (born August 7, 1953) is an American essayist and reporter. Her interests include

literary journalism Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction or literary journalism or verfabula) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contra ...

, essays, memoir, and autobiography. She has received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest, and the Salon Book Award.

Early life and education

She is the daughter of the renowned literary, radio, and television personality

Clifton Fadiman Clifton Paul "Kip" Fadiman (May 15, 1904 – June 20, 1999) was an American intellectual, author, editor, radio and television personality. He began his work with the radio, and switched to television later in his career. Background Born in Bro ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

correspondent and author Annalee Jacoby Fadiman. She attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, graduating in 1975 from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

with a bachelor of arts degree. At Harvard, she roomed with

Wendy Lesser Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...

(

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

and Kathleen Kennedy were also in the same dorm).

Career

Writing

Fadiman's 1997 book ''

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down ''The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures'' is a 1997 book by Anne Fadiman that chronicles the struggles of a Hmong refugee family from Houaysouy, Sainyabuli Province, La ...

: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures'' won the 1997

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize for Current Interest, and the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

Book Award. Researched in a small county hospital in California, it examined a

Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related to ...

family from

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

with a child with

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

, and their cultural, linguistic, and medical struggles with the American medical system. She has written two books of essays. The first, ''Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader,'' was published in 1998. The second, ''At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays'' (2007), touched on such topics as arctic explorers,

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...

and ice cream; it was the source of a quotation in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Sunday

Acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...

. She also edited ''Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love'' (2005) and the ''Best American Essays 2003''. Fadiman has published a memoir about her relationship with her father, ''The Wine Lover's Daughter'' (2017).

Editing

Fadiman was a founding editor of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

magazine ''Civilization''. She was the fourth editor of the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

quarterly ''

The American Scholar "The American Scholar" was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College at the First Parish in Cambridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was invited to speak in recognition of his gr ...

'' since 1997, and under her direction, it won three

National Magazine Awards The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

in six years. She left ''The American Scholar'', where she was paid an annual salary of $60,000, in 2004, in the midst of a dispute over budgetary issues. At the time of her departure the journal faced a budget deficit of about $250,000 and a circulation of about 28,000.

Teaching

Since January 2005, in a program established by Yale alumnus Paul E. Francis, Anne Fadiman has been

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

's first Francis Writer in Residence, a position that allows her to teach one or two non-fiction writing seminars each year, and advise, mentor, and interact with students and editors of undergraduate publications."Francis Writer-in-Residence"
/ref> In 2012 she received the

Richard H. Brodhead Richard Halleck Brodhead (born April 17, 1947) is an American scholar of 19th-century American literature and served as the ninth president of Duke University. Early life and education Brodhead was born April 17, 1947, in Dayton, Ohio. His fami ...

'68 Prize for Teaching Excellence by Non-Ladder Faculty.

Personal life

Fadiman is married to American author George Howe Colt. They have two children and a dog named Typo.

Bibliography

Author

* ''

: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures'' (1997) * ''Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader'' (1998) * ''At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays'' (2007) * ''The Wine Lover's Daughter'' (2017)

Editor

* ''Best American Essays 2003'' (2003) * ''Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love'' (2005)

References

External links

A 'Wine Lover's Daughter' Savors Her Dad's Vintage Story

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fadiman, Anne Living people 1953 births Radcliffe College alumni American essayists American women journalists American magazine editors American women essayists Journalists from New York City Yale University faculty Women magazine editors American women academics 21st-century American women