Mary Cennamo Robison (born January 14, 1949 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, ...

, United States) is an American short story writer and

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 ...

. She has published four collections of stories, and four novels, including her 2001 novel ''Why Did I Ever'', winner of the 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction. Her most recent novel, released in 2009, is ''One D.O.A., One on the Way''. She has been categorized as a founding "minimalist" writer along with authors such as Amy Hempel,

Frederick Barthelme Fredrick Barthelme (born October 10, 1943) is an American novelist and short story writer, well-known as one of the seminal writers of minimalist fiction. Alongside his personal publishing history, his position as Director of The Center For Write ...

, and Raymond Carver. In 2009, she won the

Rea Award for the Short Story The Rea Award for the Short Story is an annual award given to a living American or Canadian author chosen for unusually significant contributions to short story fiction. The Award The Rea Award is named after Michael M. Rea, who was engaged in ...

Life

Robison was born to patent attorney Anthony Cennamo and F. Elizabeth (Cennamo) Reiss, a child psychologist. She has seven brothers and sisters as well as a half brother. She was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. From an early age she was interested in writing and as a child kept journals and wrote poetry as a teenager. She once ran away from home and journeyed to Florida in search of

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

. She attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

for college. Robison received her MA from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, where she studied with John Barth. She has taught at numerous colleges and universities, including Oberlin, Ohio University and Harvard and is now a tenured professor at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. In 1977 ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' began publishing her work, with the short story "Sisters." They have since published two dozen stories, many of which reappear in American anthologies. During the 1980s she published the novel ''Oh!'' which was made into a film by Paramount called '' Twister'' and starred Harry Dean Stanton. Her other early work includes the short story collections ''An Amateur's Guide to the Night'' (1983) and ''Believe Them'' (1988). In the 1990s she suffered from severe

writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...

and in an effort to overcome it she scribbled her thoughts on thousands of index cards. These cards were reworked to become the novel ''Why Did I Ever'', which consists of 536 short chapters. Her novel ''One DOA, One on the Way'' was chosen by

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

's Book Club for 2009 summer time reading. Robison has been married twice. Her second husband was author James Robison, whom she divorced in 1996. She has two daughters by her first husband.

Selected works

* *''Oh!'' Knopf, 1981 *''An Amateur's Guide to the Night: Stories'' Knopf, 1983, *''Believe Them: Stories'' Knopf, 1988, *''Subtraction'', Knopf, 1991, *; reprint Counterpoint Press, 2002, *''Tell Me: 30 Stories'' Counterpoint Press, 2002, *''One D.O.A., one on the way: a novel'', Counterpoint, 2009,

References

External links

"Mary Robison"
Maureen Murray, ''BOMB 77'', Fall 2001 * Keillor, Garrison
''Writer's Almanac''
January 14, 2011.

''Prentice Hall'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Robison, Mary 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American women short story writers Minimalist writers Writers from Washington, D.C. Writers from Columbus, Ohio Ohio State University alumni University of Houston faculty 1949 births Living people University of Florida faculty Johns Hopkins University alumni 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers Novelists from Texas Novelists from Ohio Novelists from Florida American women academics