Tawni O'Dell (born 1964) is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

. Born and raised in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States. O'Dell was born in the same town as movie actor

Jimmy Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

. The first in her family to attend college, she graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

with a degree in journalism. She disliked journalism and preferred writing fiction. She lived for many years in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

area before moving back to Pennsylvania, where she now lives with her two children. O'Dell's literary career began with uncertainty. In 13 years she wrote six unpublished novels and collected over 300 rejection slips before her first novel Back Roads was published to enormous acclaim. The July 24th 2000 issue of People magazine featured her in a story and mentioned praise that Oprah Winfrey gave proclaiming her not only as "an author but a writer".

Works

* '' Back Roads'', novel (New York: Viking, 2000) * '' Coal Run'', novel (New York: Viking, 2004) * ''

Sister Mine ''Sister Mine'' is a 2007 novel by the American writer Tawni O’Dell. Plot introduction In the coal-mining country of Western Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of ...

'', novel (New York: Shaye Areheart Books, 2007) * ''Fragile Beasts'', novel (New York: Shaye Areheart Books, 2010) * '' One of Us'', novel (New York: Gallery Books, 2014) * ''Angels Burning'', novel (Gallery Books (5 Jan. 2016))

References

Source

* Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2002. PEN (Permanent Entry Number): 0000142270.

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odell, Tawni 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Living people 1964 births Writers from Pittsburgh People from Indiana, Pennsylvania 21st-century American women writers Medill School of Journalism alumni Novelists from Pennsylvania