Jean Hegland (born November 1956) is an American novelist.

Early life and education

She was born and raised in

Pullman, Washington Pullman () is the largest city in Whitman County, located in southeastern Washington within the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. The population was 29,799 at the 2010 census, and estimated to be 34,506 in 2019. Originally founded as Thr ...

, near the

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

state line. Her mother taught high school and college level English, and was the

Pullman High School Pullman High School is a public secondary school in the city of Pullman, Washington, the home of Washington State University. It is the only traditional public high school in the city and in the Pullman School District (#267). A four-year high sc ...

librarian for many years, and her father was a professor of English at Washington State University. Hegland began college at

Fairhaven College Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies is an interdisciplinary liberal arts college at Western Washington University. Instead of completing the general education requirements at Western, students take interdisciplinary classes at Fairhaven ...

in Bellingham, Washington, and received her BA in Liberal Arts from

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

in 1979. In 1984, after working at a variety of jobs — from making stained glass windows for local businesses to housekeeping at a nursing home — she received a MA in Rhetoric and the Teaching of Composition from

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington. It also offers programs at a campus in EWU Spokane at the Riverpoint Campus and other campus locations throughout the state. Founded in 1882, the university is ...

Novels

Hegland's first novel, ''Into the Forest'', was first published as a paperback by the nonprofit press

CALYX Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

and later as a hardbound from

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...

, which purchased the rights from CALYX. ''Into the Forest'' is a coming-of-age story about the relationship between two sisters as the technologically dependent society they were born into disintegrates and they attempt to survive alone in the redwood forest of northern California. ''Into the Forest'' was a New York Times Independent Bookstore bestseller, and has been translated into eleven languages. A new French translation was issued by Gallmeister in 2017 to much acclaim. A feature film adaptation of ''

Into the Forest ''Into the Forest'' is a 2015 Canadian apocalyptic independent drama film, written and directed by Patricia Rozema, based on the 1996 Jean Hegland book and starring Elliot Page and Evan Rachel Wood as orphaned survivalist sisters in a forest wi ...

'' starring

Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Elliot Page, various accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Actress, Academy Award nomination, tw ...

and

Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress and activist. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations for her work in ...

premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

in 2015. Hegland's second novel, ''Windfalls'' (Atria/

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, 2004, Washington Square Press 2005) explores the value of work, art and family ties, as well as the bond between women and their children. Hegland's most recent novel, ''Still Time'', is about a Shakespearean scholar who falls victim to Alzheimer's and struggles to come to terms with his estranged daughter, using the only tools that remain within his reach—his understanding of and love for Shakespeare's late plays.

List of works

*''Into the Forest'' (novel) New York: Bantam Books, 1997. *''Windfalls'' (novel) New York: Atria Books, 2004. *''Still Time'' (novel) New York: Arcade, 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hegland, Jean 1956 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers