“I think almost always that what
gets me going with a story is the atmosphere, the visual imagery, and then I
people it with characters, not the other way around.” – Ann
Beattie
Born in Washington, DC on this date
in 1947, Beattie is a short story writer and novelist noted for her dry,
matter-of-fact irony – particularly in writing about the members of the Baby
Boom generation. Distortions, her first collection of short
stories (she’s now authored 12 collections), won her several awards for excellence,
as did her novel Chilly Scenes of Winter, also was made into a well-received
film called “Head Over Heels.”
Beattie’s most recent book of short
stories, Onlookers: Stories was published in 2023, the same year
her nonfiction book More to Say: Essays and Appreciations was released. The author of numerous essays, her papers
are housed at the Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia, where
she served as Chair of the English and Creative Writing Department for many
years.
“I don't write about things that I
have the answers to or things that are very close to home,” she said. “It just wouldn't be an adventure. It
wouldn't have any vitality.”
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