Alice Hoffman (born March 16, 1952) 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 ...

and young-adult and

children's writer Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

, best known for her 1995 novel ''

Practical Magic ''Practical Magic'' is a 1998 American fantasy romantic drama film based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman. The film was directed by Griffin Dunne and stars Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest, Aid ...

'', which was adapted for a 1998 film of the same name. Many of her works fall into the

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...

of magic realism and contain elements of magic,

irony Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized int ...

, and non-standard

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

s and relationships.

Early life and education

Alice Hoffman was born in

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 raised on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Her grandmother was a

Russian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...

immigrant."Profile: Alice Hoffman."
Musleah, Rahel. ''Hadassah Magazine.'' Published June–July 2008. Accessed January 5, 2017. She graduated from

Valley Stream North High School Valley Stream North High School (VSNHS) is a combined public junior and senior high school located in the hamlet of Franklin Square, New York in southwest Nassau County on Long Island. Valley Stream North High School is one of three high schools ...

in 1969, and then from

Adelphi University Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher edu ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts 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 ...

. She was a Mirrielees

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

at the

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

Creative Writing Center in 1973 and 1974, where she earned a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

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 ...

Career

When Hoffman was twenty-one and studying at Stanford, her first short story, ''At The Drive-In'', was published in Volume 3 of the literary magazine ''Fiction''. Editor

Ted Solotaroff Theodore "Ted" Solotaroff (October 9, 1928 – August 8, 2008) was an American writer, editor and literary critic. Life and career Born into a working-class Jewish family in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Solotaroff attended the University of Michigan, gr ...

contacted her, and asked whether she had a novel. At that point, she began writing her first novel, ''Property Of''. It was published in 1977, by Farrar Straus and Giroux, now a division of

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

. A section of ''Property Of'' was published in Solotaroff's literary magazine, '' American Review''. Hoffman's first job was at Doubleday, which later published two of her novels. She was the recipient of a New Jersey Notable Book Award for ''Ice Queen''. She won a

Hammett Prize The Hammett Prize is awarded annually by the International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch (IACW/NA) to a Canadian or US citizen or permanent resident for a book in English in the field of crime writing. It is named after crim ...

for ''Turtle Moon''. She wrote the screenplay for the 1983 film ''

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...

'', starring

Kathleen Quinlan Kathleen Denise Quinlan Abbott (born November 19, 1954) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1977 film of the novel '' I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,'' and her Golde ...

and

Dianne Wiest Dianne Evelyn Wiest (; born March 28, 1948) is an American actress. She has won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress for 1986’s '' Hannah and Her Sisters'' and 1994’s ''Bullets over Broadway'' (both of which were directed by Woo ...

. In September 2019 Hoffman released ''The World That We Knew'' based on a true story told to her by a fan at a book signing. The woman confided to Hoffman that during World War 2, her Jewish parents had her live with non-Jewish people to escape the Nazis. These were known as "hidden children" and Hoffman thought about this woman and her unusual upbringing for years before deciding to travel to Europe and learn more. The third novel in her "Practical Magic" series, ''Magic Lessons'', was released in October 2020. This prequel takes place in the 17th century and explores the life of Maria Owens, the family matriarch. For Scholastic Press, Hoffman has also written the young adult novels ''Indigo'', ''Green Ange''l, and its sequel, ''Green Witch''. With her son Wolfe Martin, she wrote the picture book ''Moondog''. In 2015, Hoffman donated her archives to her alma mater,

Personal life

She resides in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. After being treated for

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...

at Mount Auburn Hospital in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, she helped establish the hospital's Hoffman Breast Center.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Property Of'' (1977) * ''The Drowning Season'' (1979) * ''Angel Landing'' (1980) * ''White Horses'' (1982) * ''Fortune's Daughter'' (1985) * ''Illumination Night'' (1987) * '' At Risk'' (1988) * ''Seventh Heaven'' (1990) * ''Turtle Moon'' (1992) * ''Second Nature'' (1994) * ''

'' (1995) * '' Here on Earth'' (1997) * ''Local Girls'' (1999) * ''The River King'' (2000) * ''Blue Diary'' (2001) * ''The Probable Future'' (2003) * '' Blackbird House'' (2004) * '' The Ice Queen'' (2005) * ''Skylight Confessions'' (2007) * ''The Third Angel'' (2008) * '' The Story Sisters'' (2009) * ''The Red Garden'' (2011) * '' The Dovekeepers'' (2011) * ''The Museum of Extraordinary Things'' (2014) * ''The Marriage of Opposites'' (2015) * ''Faithful'' (2016) * ''The Rules of Magic'' (2017) – prequel to ''Practical Magic'' * ''The World That We Knew'' (2019) * ''Magic Lessons'' (2020) - prequel to ''Practical Magic'' * ''The Book of Magic'' (2022) - sequel to ''Practical Magic''

Young adult novels

* '' Aquamarine'' (2001) * ''

Indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...

'' (2002) * '' Green Angel'' (2003) * ''Water Tales: Aquamarine & Indigo'' (omnibus edition) (2003) * ''The Foretelling'' (2005) * ''Incantation'' (2006) * ''Green Witch'' (sequel to Green Angel) (2010) * ''Green Heart'' (omnibus of Green Angel & Green Witch) (2012)

Middle grade books

* ''Nightbird'' (2015)

Children's books

* ''Fireflies: A Winter's Tale'' (illustrated by Wayne McLoughlin) (1999) * ''Horsefly'' (paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher) (2000) * ''Moondog'' (with Wolfe Martin; illustrated by

Yumi Heo Yumi Heo (1964-2016) was an author and illustrator of children's picture books. She was a graduate of San Ji University and the New York School of Visual Arts. In 1989, Heo moved to New York and earned an MFA in Illustration at the New York Sch ...

) (2004)

Short stories

* ''Conjure'' (2014)

Nonfiction

* ''Survival Lessons'' (2013)

Filmography

*''

'' (1983) (writer) *''

'' (1998) (novel) *''Sudbury'' (2004) (novel) *'' The River King'' (2005) (novel) *'' Aquamarine'' (2006) (novel) *'' The Dovekeepers'' (2014) (novel)

References

External links

Alice Hoffman's website
* *
Radio Interview on WFMT's Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Alice 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American children's writers American people of Russian-Jewish descent American women novelists Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts People from Long Island Writers from New York City Stanford University alumni Adelphi University alumni 1952 births Living people Magic realism writers American women children's writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Valley Stream North High School alumni Novelists from New York (state) Novelists from Massachusetts Jewish American novelists Women science fiction and fantasy writers 21st-century American Jews