Paula McLain (born 1965) is an American author best known for her novel, '' The Paris Wife'', a fictionalized account of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

's first marriage which became a long-time ''New York Times'' bestseller. She has published two collections of poetry, a memoir about growing up in the foster system, and the novel ''A Ticket to Ride''.

Biography

McLain was born in 1965 in Fresno, California. Her mother vanished when she was four, and her father was in and out of jail, leaving McLain and her sisters (one older, one younger) moving in and out of various foster homes for the next fourteen years, an ordeal described "with a dispassionate grace that puts a human face, actually three human faces, on the alarming statistics" in her memoir, ''Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses'' When she aged out of the system, she supported herself by working in various jobs before discovering she could write. She received an MFA in poetry from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and has been a resident of Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony as well as the recipient of fellowships from the Ohio Arts Council and the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

. She lives in Cleveland with her family.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''A Ticket to Ride'' (2008) * '' The Paris Wife'' (2011) * ''Circling the Sun'' (2015) (L'aviatrice en français) * ''Love and Ruin'' (2018) *''When the Stars Go Dark'' (2021)

Nonfiction

*''Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses'' (2003)

Poetry

*''Less of Her'' (1999, New Issues Poetry Press) *''Stumble, Gorgeous,'' (2005, New Issues Poetry Press)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLain, Paula 21st-century American novelists American memoirists American women novelists American women poets University of Michigan alumni 1965 births Living people 21st-century American women writers American women memoirists People from Fresno, California National Endowment for the Arts Fellows 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets Novelists from California 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers