Elizabeth Strout (born January 6, 1956) is an American novelist and author. She is widely known for her works in
literary fiction
Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, non-genre fiction or serious fiction is a label that, in the book trade, refers to market novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre (see genre fiction); or, otherwise, refers to novels that are ch ...
and her descriptive characterization. She was born and raised in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
, and her experiences in her youth served as inspiration for her novels–the fictional "Shirley Falls, Maine" is the setting of four of her seven novels.
Strout's first novel, ''
Amy and Isabelle'' (1998), met with widespread critical acclaim, became a national bestseller, and was adapted into a movie starring
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films ''The Karate Kid'' (1984), ''Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987), '' Cocktail'' (1988), ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), '' B ...
.
Her second novel, ''
Abide with Me'' (2006), received critical acclaim but ultimately failed to be recognized to the extent of her
debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...
. Two years later, Strout wrote and published ''
Olive Kitteridge
''Olive Kitteridge'' is a 2008 novel by American author Elizabeth Strout. The novel provides a portrait of the title character and a number of recurring characters in the coastal town of Crosby, Maine. It takes the form of 13 short stories that ...
'' (2008), to critical and commercial success, grossing nearly $25 million with over one million copies sold as of May 2017.
The novel won the 2009
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...
.
The book was
adapted into a multi Emmy Award-winning mini series and became a
''New York Times'' bestseller.
Five years later, she published ''
The Burgess Boys'' (2013), which became a national bestseller. ''
My Name Is Lucy Barton
''My Name is Lucy Barton'' is a 2016 ''New York Times'' bestselling novel and the fifth novel by the American writer Elizabeth Strout. The book was first published in the United States on January 12, 2016 through Random House. The book details t ...
'' (2016) was met with international acclaim
and topped the ''New York Times'' bestseller list. Lucy Barton later became the main character in Strout's 2017 novel, ''
Anything is Possible''. A sequel to ''Olive Kitteridge'', titled ''
Olive, Again
''Olive, Again'' is a novel by the American author Elizabeth Strout. The book was published by Random House on October 15, 2019. It is a sequel to '' Olive Kitteridge'' (2008), which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In November 2019, the ...
'', was published in 2019.
Early life and education
Strout was born in
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...
, and was raised in small towns in Maine and
Durham, New Hampshire
Durham is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 15,490 at the 2020 census, up from 14,638 at the 2010 census.United States Census BureauU.S. Census website 2010 Census figures. Retrieved March 23, 2011. D ...
. Her father was a science professor, and her mother was an English professor and also taught writing in a nearby high school.
After graduating from
Bates College
Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...
in
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is List of cities in Maine, the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County, Maine, Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, August ...
, she spent a year in
Oxford, England
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...
, followed by studies at law school for another year. In 1982, she graduated with honors, and received a
J.D. degree from the
Syracuse University College of Law
Syracuse University College of Law (SUCOL) is a Juris Doctor degree-granting law school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. It is one of only four law schools in upstate New York. Syracuse was accredited by the American Bar Association ...
. That year her first story was published in ''
New Letters
''New Letters'', the name it has been published under since 1970, is one of the oldest literary magazines in the United States and continues to publish award-winning poems and fiction. The magazine is based in Kansas City, Missouri.
History and ...
'' magazine.
Career
Early career
Strout moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where she waitressed and began developing early novels and stories to little success. She continued to write stories that were published in literary magazines, as well as in ''
Redbook
''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the " Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication as of January 2019 and now operates an article-comprise ...
'' and ''
Seventeen
Seventeen or 17 may refer to:
*17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18
* one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017
Literature
Magazines
* ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine
* ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...
''. She enrolled in Law School at
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
, and practiced law for six months before a funding cut ended her job as a Syracuse legal-services advocate.
In an interview with
Terry Gross
Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of ''Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NPR i ...
in January 2015 she said of the experience, "law school was more of an operation, I think."
She stated in a 2016 interview with ''
The Morning News,''
I wanted to be a writer so much that the idea of failing at it was almost unbearable to me. I really didn’t tell people as I grew older that I wanted to be a writer—you know, because they look at you with such looks of pity. I just couldn’t stand that.
Rise to prominence with ''Amy and Isabelle''
While teaching part-time at
Borough of Manhattan Community College
The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) is a public community college in New York City. Founded in 1963 as part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, BMCC grants associate degrees in a wide variety of vocational, busines ...
, Strout worked for six or seven years to complete her book ''Amy and Isabelle'', which when published was shortlisted for the
2000 Orange Prize and nominated for the
2000 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction.
''Amy and Isabelle'' was adapted as a television movie, starring
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films ''The Karate Kid'' (1984), ''Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987), '' Cocktail'' (1988), ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), '' B ...
and produced by
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
's studio,
Harpo Films
Harpo Productions (or Harpo Studios) is an American multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey and based in West Hollywood, California. It is the sole subsidiary of her media and entertainment company Harpo, Inc. The name "Harpo" is ...
.
Strout was a
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
lecturer at
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...
during the fall semester of 2007, where she taught creative writing at both the introductory and advanced levels. She was also on the faculty of the master of fine arts (MFA) program at
Queens University of Charlotte
The Queens University of Charlotte is a private university in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has approximately 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students through the College of Arts and Sciences, the McColl School of Business, the Wayland H. Cato, ...
in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
.
''Olive Kitteridge'' and its Pulitzer Prize
''Abide with Me'' was published in 2006 by
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
to further critical acclaim. Ron Charles of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' summarized her book by saying: "as she did in her bestselling debut, ''Amy and Isabelle'', Strout sets her second novel in a small New England town, whose natural beauty she returns to again and again as this tale unfolds against the background of the Cold War tensions of the 1950s." ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' welcomed the novel with a positive review: "with superlative skill, Strout challenges us to examine what makes a good story—and what makes a good life."
Goodreads
Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...
rated the novel 3.75 stars out of 5.
Strout's third book, ''
Olive Kitteridge
''Olive Kitteridge'' is a 2008 novel by American author Elizabeth Strout. The novel provides a portrait of the title character and a number of recurring characters in the coastal town of Crosby, Maine. It takes the form of 13 short stories that ...
'', was published two years later in 2008. The book featured a collection of connected short stories about a woman and her immediate family and friends on the coast of Maine.
Emily Nussbaum of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' called the short stories "taciturn, elegant." In 2009, it was announced that the novel won the year's
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...
.
The book became a ''New York Times'' bestseller and won the
Premio Bancarella Award, at an event held in the medieval Piazza della Repubblica in
Pontremoli
Pontremoli (; local egl, Pontrémal; la, Apua) is a small city, ''comune'' former Latin Catholic bishopric in the province of Massa and Carrara, Tuscany region, central Italy.
Literally translated, Pontremoli means "Trembling Bridge" (from ''pon ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. Louisa Thomas, writing in ''The New York Times'', said'':''
The pleasure in reading Olive Kitteridge comes from an intense identification with complicated, not always admirable, characters. And there are moments in which slipping into a character’s viewpoint seems to involve the revelation of an emotion more powerful and interesting than simple fellow feeling—a complex, sometimes dark, sometimes life-sustaining dependency on others. There’s nothing mawkish or cheap here. There’s simply the honest recognition that we need to try to understand people, even if we can’t stand them.
''The Burgess Boys'' and recent work
''The Burgess Boys'' was published on March 26, 2013, to further critical acclaim. A ''New York Times'' review noted that Strout "handles her storytelling with grace, intelligence and low-key humor, demonstrating a great ear for the many registers in which people speak to their loved ones," but criticized her for not developing certain characters. NPR noted the novel by saying: "This is an ambitious novel that wants to train its gaze on the flotsam and jetsam of thought, as well as on big-issue topics like the politics of immigration and the possibility of second chances." The book became her second
''New York Times ''bestseller. ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' reviewed it with the following observation: "
e broad social and political range of The Burgess Boys shows just how impressively this extraordinary writer continues to develop."
After a three-year break, she published ''
My Name Is Lucy Barton
''My Name is Lucy Barton'' is a 2016 ''New York Times'' bestselling novel and the fifth novel by the American writer Elizabeth Strout. The book was first published in the United States on January 12, 2016 through Random House. The book details t ...
'' (2016)'',''
a story about Lucy Barton, a recovering patient from an operation who reconnects with her estranged mother. ''The New York Times'' reviewed it with the following observation: "there is not a scintilla of sentimentality in this exquisite novel. Instead, in its careful words and vibrating silences, ''My Name Is Lucy Barton'' offers us a rare wealth of emotion, from darkest suffering to—‘I was so happy. Oh, I was happy’—simple joy."
The novel topped ''The New York Times'' bestseller list.
It was also longlisted for the
Man Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
.
Strout broke from her usual multi-year break in between novels to publish ''
Anything is Possible'' (2017)—her sixth novel.
''Anything is Possible'' was called a "literary mean joke"
due to its "hurting men and women, desperate for liberation from their wounds" in contrast to its title. The novel had her noted as "a master of the story cycle" by Heller McCalpin of
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 ...
.
It was largely seen as an advance on her previous book
due to its "ability to render quiet portraits of the indignities and disappointments of normal life, and the moments of grace and kindness we are gifted in response" according to
Susan Scarf Merrell
Susan Scarf Merrell is an American author who has published novels, short stories, and essays. Her second novel, ''Shirley'', about a young woman who goes to live with novelist Shirley Jackson and Stanley Edgar Hyman in their Bennington home in 196 ...
of ''The Washington Post.'' ''Anything is Possible'' won
The Story Prize The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Eligible books must be written in English and first p ...
for books published in 2017.
A sequel to ''Olive Kitteridge'', titled ''
Olive, Again
''Olive, Again'' is a novel by the American author Elizabeth Strout. The book was published by Random House on October 15, 2019. It is a sequel to '' Olive Kitteridge'' (2008), which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In November 2019, the ...
'', was published in October 2019.
In October 2021, ''
Oh William!'' was published.
The novel revisits the world of Lucy Barton, and according to Strout, is primarily about "how hard it is ever to know anyone, including ourselves".
[ ] It was named to the shortlist of the
2022 Booker Prize
The 2022 Booker Prize was a literary award given for the best English novel of the year. It was announced on 17 October 2022, during a ceremony hosted by Sophie Duker at the Roundhouse in London. The longlist was announced on 26 July 2022. The s ...
.
Personal life
Strout is married to former
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
James Tierney, lecturer in law at
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
and founding director of State AG, an educational resource on the office of state attorney general. She divides her time between
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Brunswick, Maine.
Bibliography
Novels
* ''
Amy and Isabelle'' (1998) ,
* ''
Abide with Me'' (2006) ,
* ''
Olive Kitteridge
''Olive Kitteridge'' is a 2008 novel by American author Elizabeth Strout. The novel provides a portrait of the title character and a number of recurring characters in the coastal town of Crosby, Maine. It takes the form of 13 short stories that ...
'' (2008) ,
* ''
The Burgess Boys'' (2013) ,
* ''
My Name Is Lucy Barton
''My Name is Lucy Barton'' is a 2016 ''New York Times'' bestselling novel and the fifth novel by the American writer Elizabeth Strout. The book was first published in the United States on January 12, 2016 through Random House. The book details t ...
'' (2016) ,
* ''
Anything is Possible'' (2017) ,
* ''
Olive, Again
''Olive, Again'' is a novel by the American author Elizabeth Strout. The book was published by Random House on October 15, 2019. It is a sequel to '' Olive Kitteridge'' (2008), which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In November 2019, the ...
'' (2019) ,
* ''
Oh William!'' (2021) ,
* ''Lucy by the Sea'' (2022) ,
Essays and other contributions
*
Critical studies and reviews of Strout's work
*
[Online version is titled "Elizabeth Strout's long homecoming".]
See also
*
List of Bates College people
This list of notable people associated with Bates College includes Matriculation, matriculating students, Alumnus, alumni, attendees, faculty, trustees, and honorary degree recipients of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Members of the Bates co ...
*
List of Syracuse University people
This is a list of people associated with Syracuse University, including founders, financial benefactors, notable alumni, notable educators, and speakers. Syracuse University has over 250,000 alumni representing all 50 states, the District of Columb ...
References
External links
Strout on 'Cuse Conversations Podcast in 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strout, Elizabeth
1956 births
Living people
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American novelists
21st-century American women writers
American women academics
American women novelists
Bates College alumni
Novelists from Maine
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners
Queens University of Charlotte faculty
Syracuse University College of Law alumni
Writers from Portland, Maine