Ann Arensberg
{{Short description|American author (1937–2022)}}{{Infobox person
| name = Ann Arensberg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1937|02|21}}
| birth_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|01|14|1937|02|21}}
| death_place = Sharon, Connecticut, US
| education = {{Plainlist|
- Radcliffe College, Bachelor of Arts, 1958
- Harvard College, Master's degree in French literature, 1962
}}
| occupation = Book publishing editor and author
| years_active = 1967-1999
}}
Ann Arensberg (February 21, 1937 – January 14, 2022) was an American book publishing editor and author. She worked for E. P. Dutton and the Metropolitan Museum of Art before joining Viking Press in 1967. Arensberg worked as an editor there until she began her writing career in 1974. Her stories "Art History" and "Group Sex" were chosen for the 1975 and 1980 O. Henry Award Stories collections. After writing her two novellas, Arensberg won the American Book Award for First Novel in 1981 with Sister Wolf while the award replaced the National Book Awards during the 1980s. Her later publications include a novelization of "Group Sex" in 1986 and an additional novel, Incubus, in 1999.
Early life and education
Arensberg was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on February 21, 1937.{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Peacock |editor-first=Scot |encyclopedia=Contemporary Authors |volume=85 |series=New Revision |isbn=0787630950 |publisher=Gale Group |title=ARENSBERG, Ann 1937- |location=Detroit |page=4 |date=2000 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780787630959/page/4}} Arensberg's father was employed by a glassmaking company in Havana, Cuba.{{cite news |last1=Risen |first1=Clay |title=Ann Arensberg, Insightful Novelist of Mysteries and Manners, Dies at 84 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/books/ann-arensberg-dead.html |access-date=January 21, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=January 21, 2022}} Her mother worked in education before she co-created Free Cuba Radio with the Central Intelligence Agency.{{cite news |title=Mariada Bourgin |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2005/11/18/mariada-bourgin/291c4680-01e8-4d7c-95a0-efc2e08d9998/ |access-date=January 24, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=November 18, 2005}}
In 1946, Arensberg started living in Havana and grew up there until she was in her early twenties.{{cite journal |title=First Novelists |journal=Library Journal |date=1 October 1980 |volume=105 |issue=17 |page=2112 |url=https://archive.org/details/libraryjournal105sep/page/2112 |accessdate=8 September 2019}} For her education, Arensberg started her creative writing experience while attending Concord Academy as a teenager.{{Cite magazine|title=Ann Arensberg: Close Encounters of a Novelist|date=March 8, 1999|magazine=Publishers Weekly|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/19990308/25723-ann-arensberg-close-encounters-of-a-novelist.html|last=Goodyear|first=Dana|volume=245|issue=10|access-date=January 24, 2022}} As a post-secondary student, Arensberg completed a Bachelor of Arts from Radcliffe College in 1958. She then received a Master's degree in French literature from Harvard College in 1962.
Career
Arensberg began her career in various places including book publisher E. P. Dutton and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Arensberg continued her literary career in 1967 when she became an editor for Viking Press. Upon leaving Viking in 1974, Arensberg wrote the story "Art History" for Antaeus that year.{{cite book |last1=Abrahams |first1=William Miller |title=Prize stories 1975 : the O. Henry awards |date=1975 |publisher=Doubleday & Company Inc. |location=Garden City, New York |isbn=0385035136 |page=[https://archive.org/details/prizestories197500will/page/151 151] |url=https://archive.org/details/prizestories197500will |url-access=registration |accessdate=8 September 2019}} Prior to "Art History", Arensberg discarded her first attempt at writing.
After publishing "Group Sex" for Canto magazine in 1979, Arensberg moved away from novellas the following year with the release of her first novel Sister Wolf in 1980.{{cite book |last1=Bellow |first1=Saul |last2=Abrahams |first2=William |title=Prize stories 1980: the O. Henry Awards |date=1980 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=0385151063 |page=271 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bmhk70k8VH4C&q=canto |accessdate=8 September 2019}} Later on in her writing career, Arensberg republished "Group Sex" as a novel in 1986 and wrote her third novel Incubus in 1999. Following the release of Incubus, Arensberg had two books in progress by March 1999.
Awards and honors
Arensberg appeared in the O. Henry Award Stories in 1975 with "Art History" and 1980 with "Group Sex".{{cite web |title=The O. Henry Prize Stories Past Winners List |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/anchor/ohenry/winners/past.html |website=Random House |accessdate=8 September 2019}} When the National Book Awards were replaced with the American Book Awards during the 1980s, Arensberg won the American Book Award for First Novel in 1981 with Sister Wolf.{{cite news |last1=Fehrman |first1=Craig |title=The Short, Unsuccessful Life of the American Book Awards |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/books/review/the-short-unsuccessful-life-of-the-american-book-awards.html |accessdate=December 2, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=October 28, 2011 |at=p. 35 sec. Sunday Book Review}}{{cite news |title='China Men' given American Book Award |work=St. Petersburg Times |date=May 2, 1981 |page=7B}}
Personal life and death
References
{{reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arensberg, Ann}}
Category:Writers from Pittsburgh
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:American women novelists
Category:American book editors
Category:American women short story writers
Category:National Book Award winners
Category:Harvard College alumni
Category:Radcliffe College alumni
Category:20th-century American women writers