Annabel Davis-Goff
{{short description|Irish/US author}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Annabel Davis-Goff
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1942|2|19}}
| birth_place = County Waterford, Ireland{{cite news |last1=Truax |first1=Alice |title=The Past Is a Native Country |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/books/the-past-is-a-native-country.html |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=12 October 2003}}
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| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Novelist
- screenwriter
- essayist
- academic
- advocate
}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Mike Nichols|1975|1986|end=div}}
| children = 2
| mother = Alice Cynthia Sainthill Woodhouse
| father = Sir Ernest William Davis-Goff
| relatives =
| family = Rachel Nichols (daughter-in-law)
| website = {{URL|annabeldavisgoff.com}}
}}
Annabel Davis-Goff (born 19 February 1942) is an Irish novelist, academic, screenwriter and advocate, active in the United States.[http://www.travelbooks.co.uk/biog.asp?id=131 Eland Books] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213110815/http://www.travelbooks.co.uk/biog.asp?id=131 |date=13 December 2013 }}
Early life
Davis-Goff was born to a Protestant family{{Cite web|last= Bloom |first= Nate |author-link= |title=American Olympic Medal Hopefuls |publisher=InterfaithFamily.com|date=2 February 2010 |url=https://www.interfaithfamily.com/arts_and_entertainment/popular_culture/interfaith_celebrities_olympic_athletes_and_american_faces/ |quote=Nichols and his third wife, Annabel Davis-Goff, who were married between 1975 and 1986, had two children: a daughter, Jenny, now around 32, and a son, Max, now 35.Davis-Goff is of Irish Protestant background and she has become a well known novelist in the last two decades.}} in Ireland to Anglo-Irish parents. Her father was Sir Ernest William Davis-Goff, 3rd Bt; her mother was Alice Cynthia Sainthill Woodhouse. She left Ireland in her teens and worked in England in television and film (she was listed as 'Continuity' in the credits for the films Walkabout and Performance) before moving to the United States. She lived for a while in California and then moved to Connecticut upon her marriage.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
Literary career
Davis-Goff is best known for her family memoir Walled Gardens (1990; new edition by Eland in 2008). She has published several lesser-known books since, including The Dower House (1997), This Cold Country (2002) and The Fox’s Walk (2005). She has edited The Literary Companion to Gambling and has reviewed books for The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly. The New Yorker and The Washington Post have labelled her work "exquisite" and "brilliant".{{fact|date=January 2024}}
Advocacy
Davis-Goff teaches at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont. She has worked for more than 30 years with organizations that serve homeless families in New York City and is an advocate for prison reform.{{fact|date=January 2024}}
Personal life
Davis-Goff was married to Hollywood film director Mike Nichols for 11 years, from 1975 to 1986, until the marriage ended in divorce. They had 2 children together; Max Nichols (married to Rachel Alexander) and Jenny Nichols. Mike Nichols died of a heart attack in 2014, after which Davis-Goff divided her time between Manhattan and Vermont.{{fact|date=January 2024}}
Her niece, Sarah Davis-Goff, is also an author, focusing on Ireland-based post-apocalyptic drama,{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/in-praise-of-annabel-davis-goff-by-sarah-davis-goff-1.2124414|title=In praise of Annabel Davis-Goff, by Sarah Davis-Goff|last=Davis-Goff|first=Sarah|website=The Irish Times|language=en|access-date=2019-02-05}} and is a founder of the publishing company Tramp Press.{{fact|date=January 2024}}
References
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Category:20th-century Irish women writers
Category:21st-century Irish women writers
Category:Writers from County Waterford
Category:Irish women memoirists
Category:20th-century Irish novelists
Category:20th-century Irish memoirists
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers