Jane Alison (born 1961) is an Australian author.

Early life and education

Born in Canberra in 1961, Alison spent two years in Australia as a small child, growing up mainly in the United States as a child of diplomatic parents. She attended public schools in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and then earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in classics from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in 1983. Before writing fiction, she worked as an administrator for the

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 ...

, as a

production artist A production artist is a technical and creative position in a creative profession. The job title originated at advertising agencies, assigning what was known as paste-up work (now prepress production) to the position. Production artists work clos ...

for the

Washington City Paper The ''Washington City Paper'' is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial mix is focu ...

, as an editor for the Miami New Times, and as a proposal and speech writer for

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

. She also worked as a freelance editor and illustrator before attending

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

to study

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

Literary career

Alison's first novel, ''The Love-Artist'', was published in 2001 by

Farrar, Straus & Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

and has been translated into seven languages. It was followed by ''The Marriage of the Sea'', a

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 ...

Notable Book of 2003. Her latest novel, ''Natives and Exotics'', appeared in 2005 and was one of that summer's recommended readings by

Alan Cheuse Alan Stuart Cheuse (January 23, 1940 – July 31, 2015) was an American writer, editor, professor of literature, and radio commentator. A longtime NPR book commentator, he was also the author of five novels, five collections of short stories and n ...

National Public Radio 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 ...

. Her short fiction and critical writing have recently appeared in Seed; Five Points; Postscript: Essays on Film and the Humanities; and The Germanic Review. She has also written several biographies for children and co-edited with

Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...

a critical series on women writers. She has taught writing and literature at

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

, and for writers groups in

Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

. She also participated in an on-line MOOC course for

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

.Some challenges in historical fiction writing - Poetry and Exile in Ancient Rome: Jane Alison
/ref> Having lived in Karlsruhe, Germany for the past 10 years, she recently moved to Miami, Florida, in 2007, and began teaching in the MFA Creative Writing program at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

Bibliography

Memoir

* ''The Sisters Antipodes'', (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009)

Fiction

* ''The Love-Artist: A Novel'', (Picador, 2002) * ''The Marriage of the Sea'', (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition, 2003) * ''Natives and Exotics'', (Harvest Books; 1st edition, 2006) * ''Nine Island'', (Catapult, 2016)

Criticism and other non-fiction

* ''Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative'', (Catapult, 2019)

References

External links

Jane Alison's Home Page

* ttps://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9404E0DE163EF936A15756C0A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=The%20Marriage%20of%20the%20Sea&st=cse Fluid Dynamics: New York Times review of ''The Marriage of the Sea''
Transplants: New York Times review of ''Natives and Exotics''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alison, Jane 21st-century Australian novelists Australian memoirists Australian women novelists Living people Princeton University alumni Columbia University School of the Arts alumni 21st-century Australian women writers Australian women memoirists 1961 births 21st-century memoirists