Annalyn Swan

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}

{{short description|American writer and biographer (born 1951)}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Annalyn Swan

| image =

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| pseudonym =

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1951}}

| birth_place = Biloxi, Mississippi

| death_date =

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| occupation = {{flatlist|

• Author
• editor
• professor

}}

| nationality = American

| alma_mater = Princeton University, King's College, Cambridge (MA)

| period =

| genre = Biography

| subject =

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| notable_works = de Kooning: An American Master, Francis Bacon: Revelations

| spouse = Mark Stevens

| awards = Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography

| signature =

| website = {{URL|https://www.stevensandswan.com/}}

| imagesize =

}}

Annalyn Swan (born ca. 1951 in Biloxi, Mississippi) is an American writer and biographer who has written extensively about the arts. With her husband, art critic Mark Stevens, she is the author of de Kooning: An American Master (2004), a biography of Dutch-American artist Willem de Kooning, which was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2005-Biography-or-Autobiography|title=2005 Pulitzer Prizes|website=www.pulitzer.org|access-date=October 22, 2018}} De Kooning also won the National Book Critics Circle prize for biography{{cite web |title=All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists |url=http://bookcritics.org/awards/past_awards |publisher=National Book Critics Circle |access-date=October 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018063346/http://bookcritics.org/awards/past_awards/ |archive-date=October 18, 2015 |url-status=dead }} and the Los Angeles Times biography award, and was named one of the 10 best books of 2005 by The New York Times.{{cite news |title=The 10 Best Books of 2005 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/books/review/the-10-best-books-of-2005.html |access-date=October 22, 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=December 11, 2005 |quote=A sweeping biography, impressively researched and absorbingly written, of the charismatic immigrant who stood at the vortex of mid-20th-century American art.}} In her review in The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote: "The elusiveness of its subject makes the achievements of de Kooning: An American Master that much more dazzling."{{cite news |last1=Maslin |first1=Janet |author-link = Janet Maslin |title=Messy Life and Genius: The Portrait of an Artist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/books/messy-life-and-genius-the-portrait-of-an-artist.html |access-date=October 22, 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=November 8, 2004}}

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University (Class of 1973), Swan was the first woman editor-in-chief of The Daily Princetonian.{{Cite web |url=http://english.princeton.edu/news/new-spring-course-eng-374-life-writing-art-biography |title=New Spring Course: ENG 374 - Life Writing: The Art of Biography | Department of English |access-date=2014-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904100115/http://english.princeton.edu/news/new-spring-course-eng-374-life-writing-art-biography |archive-date=2014-09-04 |url-status=dead }} She was named a Marshall Scholar{{cite web|url=http://www.marshallscholarship.org/alumni/class-photos/1970s/1973|title=Class of 1973|website=www.marshallscholarship.org|access-date=August 22, 2018}} and earned her master's degree at King's College, Cambridge. She began her writing career at Time, then joined Newsweek in 1980 as music critic, becoming the magazine's senior arts editor in 1983. In 1986–1990 she was editor-in-chief of Savvy,{{cite web|url=http://www.savvy.co.in/|title=Savvy|website=www.savvy.co.in|access-date=August 22, 2018}} a magazine for professional women.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/26/business/advertising-savvy-magazine-to-get-a-new-thrust-in-april.html|title=ADVERTISING; Savvy Magazine to Get A New Thrust in April|first=Philip H.|last=Dougherty|work=The New York Times |date=February 26, 1987 |access-date=August 22, 2018}} She later taught at Princeton University, where she was named a trustee in 1999.{{Cite web|title=A Princeton Profile, 1997–1998|url=https://pr.princeton.edu/profile/97/33trustees.html|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=Princeton University}}

Swan has written for numerous publications, including The New Republic and Vanity Fair,{{cite magazine|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/contributors/annalyn-swan|title=Annalyn Swan|first=Vanity Fair|last=Magazine|magazine=Vanity Fair|access-date=August 22, 2018}} and is the winner of an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award{{cite web |title=14th Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Award Recipients |url=https://www.ascapfoundation.org/programs/awards/award-recipients/deems-taylor/1981 |publisher=ASCAP Foundation |access-date=December 31, 2018}} and a Front Page Award for her music criticism. She is currently visiting professor{{Cite web|title=Members: Annalyn Swan|url=https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/members/annalyns/|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=CUNY Academic Commons|language=en}} and serves on the advisory boards{{Cite web|title=About Us|url=https://llcb.ws.gc.cuny.edu/about-us/|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=Leon Levy Center for Biography|language=en-US}} at the Leon Levy Biography Center at the Graduate Center, the City University of New York.{{Cite web |url=https://english.princeton.edu/news/new-spring-course-eng-374-life-writing-art-biography |title=New Spring Course: ENG 374 - Life Writing: The Art of Biography | Department of English |access-date=2015-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627040849/https://english.princeton.edu/news/new-spring-course-eng-374-life-writing-art-biography |archive-date=2015-06-27 |url-status=dead }} Swan was named "Biloxian Made Good" in 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.topix.com/forum/city/north-biloxi-ms/TRNH8LDCCL137AV9L|title=Swan's incredible journey brings her back to Biloxi|work=Topix |access-date=August 22, 2018}}

In 2021, Swan and Mark Stevens published a biography of the British artist Francis Bacon, Francis Bacon: Revelations, with HarperCollins (UK) and Knopf (US).{{cite news |title=FRANCIS BACON | Kirkus Reviews |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mark-stevens/francis-bacon-stevens |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work= Kirkus |date=November 24, 2020 }}{{cite news |last1=Rachel |first1=Cooke |title=Francis Bacon: Revelations by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan review – a captivating triumph |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/17/francis-bacon-revelations-by-mark-stevens-and-annalyn-swan-review-a-captivating-triumph |access-date=March 12, 2021 |work=The Guardian: Observer book of the week |date=January 17, 2021 }} They have two children.