Elizabeth Strout

{{Infobox writer

| name = Elizabeth Strout

| image = Elizabeth Strout 2015.jpg

| caption = Strout in 2015

| birth_name = Elizabeth Strout

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1956|1|6}}{{cite book|title=Encyclopædia Britannica almanac 2010|date=2009|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|location=Chicago|isbn=978-1-61535-329-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/timealmanac201000/page/71 71]|url=https://archive.org/details/timealmanac201000|url-access=registration|quote=Elizabeth Strout january 1956.|access-date= March 3, 2016}}

| birth_place = Portland, Maine, U.S.

| occupation = Novelist and short-story writer

| education = Bates College (BA)
Syracuse University (JD)

| genre = Literary fiction

| notableworks = Amy and Isabelle
Abide with Me
Olive Kitteridge
The Burgess Boys
My Name Is Lucy Barton
Anything Is Possible
Olive, Again

| spouse = James Tierney

| website = {{URL|http://www.elizabethstrout.com/}}

}}

Elizabeth Strout (born January 6, 1956) is an American novelist and author. She is widely known for her works in literary fiction and her descriptive characterization. She was born and raised in Portland, Maine, and her experiences in her youth served as inspiration for her novels–the fictional "Shirley Falls, Maine" is the setting of four of her ten novels.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/13/the-burgess-boys-elizabeth-strout-review|title=The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout – review|last=Mackay|first=Shena|date=July 13, 2013|work=The Guardian|access-date=June 7, 2017|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/elizabeth-strouts-the-burgess-boys-reviewed-by-ron-charles/2013/03/19/05f84286-8b83-11e2-b63f-f53fb9f2fcb4_story.html|title=Elizabeth Strout's 'The Burgess Boys,' reviewed by Ron Charles|last1=Charles|first1=Ron|date=March 19, 2013|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 7, 2017|last2=Charles|first2=Ron|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}

Strout's first novel, Amy and Isabelle (1998), met with widespread critical acclaim, became a national bestseller, and was adapted into a movie starring Elisabeth Shue.{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/01/elizabeth-strouts-long-homecoming|title=Elizabeth Strout's Long Homecoming|first=Ariel|last=Levy|author-link=Ariel Levy (writer)|magazine=The New Yorker|date=April 24, 2017|access-date=June 7, 2017}} Her second novel, Abide with Me (2006), received critical acclaim but ultimately failed to be recognized to the extent of her debut novel. Two years later, Strout wrote and published Olive Kitteridge (2008), to critical and commercial success, grossing nearly $25 million with over one million copies sold as of May 2017. The novel won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/elizabeth-strout|title=The 2009 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Fiction|website=www.pulitzer.org|language=en|access-date=June 7, 2017}} The book was adapted into a multi Emmy Award-winning mini series and became a New York Times bestseller.{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/20/entertainment/emmy-awards-2015-feat/|title='Olive Kitteridge,' 'Game of Thrones' big Emmy winners |first=Brandon |last=Griggs|publisher=CNN|access-date= October 1, 2018}}

Five years later, she published The Burgess Boys (2013), which became a national bestseller. My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016) was met with international acclaim{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/books/review/anything-is-possible-elizabeth-strout.html|title=Elizabeth Strout's Follow-Up to 'Lucy Barton' Is a Master Class on Class|last=Barrett|first=Andrea|date=May 12, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 7, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/books-anything-is-possible-by-elizabeth-strout-5jqq8pxjg|title=Books: Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout|last=Lowdon|first= Claire|newspaper=The Times|date=May 7, 2017|access-date=June 14, 2017|language=en}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/elizabeth-strouts-anything-is-possible-is-a-small-wonder-1492803839|title=Elizabeth Strout's "Anything Is Possible" Is a Small Wonder|last=Sacks|first=Sam|date=April 21, 2017|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=June 14, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}} and topped the New York Times bestseller list. Lucy Barton later became the main character in Strout's 2017 novel, Anything Is Possible, a collection of linked stories about the town Lucy Barton came from, although Lucy only appears briefly in the book. A sequel to Olive Kitteridge, titled Olive, Again, was published in 2019. Oh, William! a third Lucy Barton novel, was published in October of 2021. She won the Siegfried Lenz Prize in 2022. Further novels in the Lucy Barton series, Lucy by the Sea and Tell Me Everything, were published in 2022 and 2024; the latter also depicts Olive and other characters from Strout's previous novels.

Early life and education

Strout was born in Portland, Maine, and was raised in small towns in Maine and Durham, New Hampshire. Her father was a science professor, and her mother was an English professor and also taught writing in a nearby high school.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2016/01/13/462912164/my-ears-are-open-novelist-elizabeth-strout-finds-inspiration-in-every-day-life|title='My Ears Are Open': Novelist Elizabeth Strout Finds Inspiration In Everyday Life|publisher=NPR|first=Terry|last=Gross|work=Fresh Air|date= January 13, 2016|access-date= October 1, 2018}}{{Cite web|last=Birnbaum|first=Robert|title=Elizabeth Strout|url=https://themorningnews.org/article/elizabeth-strout|access-date=February 20, 2022|website=The Morning News}}

After graduating from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, she spent a year in Oxford, England, followed by studies at law school for another year. In 1982, she graduated with honors, and received a J.D. degree from the Syracuse University College of Law.{{cite news |title=The Write Stuff: Syracuse University College of Law |url=http://law.syr.edu/publication/magazine/the-write-stuff |access-date=August 4, 2021 |work=law.syr.edu}} That year her first story was published in New Letters magazine.

Career

= Early career =

Strout moved to New York City, where she waitressed and began developing early novels and stories to little success. She continued to write stories that were published in literary magazines, as well as in Redbook and Seventeen. She enrolled in Law School at Syracuse University, and practiced law for six months before a funding cut ended her job as a Syracuse legal-services advocate. In an interview with Terry Gross in January 2015 she said of the experience, "law school was more of an operation, I think." She stated in a 2016 interview with The Morning News,

I wanted to be a writer so much that the idea of failing at it was almost unbearable to me. I really didn’t tell people as I grew older that I wanted to be a writer—you know, because they look at you with such looks of pity. I just couldn’t stand that.

= Rise to prominence with ''Amy and Isabelle'' =

While teaching part-time at Borough of Manhattan Community College,{{Cite news |last=Egan |first=Elisabeth |date=2022-09-03 |title=At 66, Elizabeth Strout Has Reached Maximum Productivity |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/03/books/elizabeth-strout-lucy-by-the-sea.html |access-date=2022-09-12 |issn=0362-4331}} Strout worked for six or seven years to complete her book Amy and Isabelle, which when published was shortlisted for the 2000 Orange Prize and nominated for the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Amy and Isabelle was adapted as a television movie, starring Elisabeth Shue and produced by Oprah Winfrey's studio, Harpo Films.

Strout was a National Endowment for the Humanities lecturer at Colgate University during the fall semester of 2007, where she taught creative writing at both the introductory and advanced levels. She was also on the faculty of the master of fine arts (MFA) program at Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina.

= ''Olive Kitteridge'' and its Pulitzer Prize =

File:Elizabeth Strout in Rome.jpg]]

Abide with Me was published in 2006 by Random House to further critical acclaim. Ron Charles of The Washington Post summarized her book by saying: "as she did in her bestselling debut, Amy and Isabelle, Strout sets her second novel in a small New England town, whose natural beauty she returns to again and again as this tale unfolds against the background of the Cold War tensions of the 1950s."{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/16/AR2006031601632.html|title=Running on Faith|last=Charles|first= Ron|date=March 19, 2006|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 7, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}} The New Yorker welcomed the novel with a positive review: "with superlative skill, Strout challenges us to examine what makes a good story—and what makes a good life."{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/04/03/abide-with-me|last=Briefly Noted|title=Abide with Me|magazine=The New Yorker|date=April 3, 2006|access-date=June 7, 2017}}

Strout's third book, Olive Kitteridge, was published two years later in 2008. The book featured a collection of connected short stories about a woman and her immediate family and friends on the coast of Maine.{{Cite news|date=August 4, 2009|first=Bob|last= Thompson|title=Fiction Pulitzer Prize Winner Elizabeth Strout Talks Writing, 'Olive Kitteridge'|newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080302901.html|access-date=February 20, 2022|issn=0190-8286}} Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker called the short stories "taciturn, elegant."{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/03/maine-miami|title="Olive Kitteridge" and "Jane the Virgin" Reviews|first=Emily|last=Nussbaum|magazine=The New Yorker|date=October 27, 2014|access-date=June 7, 2017}} In 2009, it was announced that the novel won the year's Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The book became a New York Times bestseller and won the Premio Bancarella Award, at an event held in the medieval Piazza della Repubblica in Pontremoli, Italy. Louisa Thomas, writing in The New York Times, said:

The pleasure in reading Olive Kitteridge comes from an intense identification with complicated, not always admirable, characters. And there are moments in which slipping into a character’s viewpoint seems to involve the revelation of an emotion more powerful and interesting than simple fellow feeling—a complex, sometimes dark, sometimes life-sustaining dependency on others. There’s nothing mawkish or cheap here. There’s simply the honest recognition that we need to try to understand people, even if we can’t stand them.

= ''The Burgess Boys'' and recent work =

The Burgess Boys was published on March 26, 2013, to further critical acclaim. A New York Times review noted that Strout "handles her storytelling with grace, intelligence and low-key humor, demonstrating a great ear for the many registers in which people speak to their loved ones," but criticized her for not developing certain characters.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/books/review/the-burgess-boys-by-elizabeth-strout.html|title='The Burgess Boys,' by Elizabeth Strout|last=Brownrigg|first=Sylvia|date=April 26, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=June 7, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} NPR noted the novel by saying: "This is an ambitious novel that wants to train its gaze on the flotsam and jetsam of thought, as well as on big-issue topics like the politics of immigration and the possibility of second chances."{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/04/03/175951129/burgess-boys-family-saga-explores-the-authenticity-of-imperfection|title='Burgess Boys' Family Saga Explores The Authenticity Of Imperfection|first=Maureen|last=Corrigan|publisher=NPR|work=Fresh Air|date=April 1, 2013|access-date=June 7, 2017}} The book became her second New York Times bestseller.{{Cite web|url=http://www.elizabethstrout.com/books/the-burgess-boys/|title=The Burgess Boys|website=Elizabeth Strout|language=en-US|access-date=June 7, 2017}} The Washington Post reviewed it with the following observation: "[T]he broad social and political range of The Burgess Boys shows just how impressively this extraordinary writer continues to develop."

After a three-year break, she published My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016),{{cite web|title=My Name is Lucy Barton|url=http://www.elizabethstrout.com/books/my-name-is-lucy-barton/|website=Elizabeth Strout|access-date=December 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702175710/http://www.elizabethstrout.com/books/my-name-is-lucy-barton/|archive-date=July 2, 2018|url-status=dead}} a story about Lucy Barton, a recovering patient from an operation who reconnects with her estranged mother. The New York Times reviewed it with the following observation: "there is not a scintilla of sentimentality in this exquisite novel. Instead, in its careful words and vibrating silences, My Name Is Lucy Barton offers us a rare wealth of emotion, from darkest suffering to—‘I was so happy. Oh, I was happy’—simple joy."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/books/review/elizabeth-strouts-my-name-is-lucy-barton.html|title=Elizabeth Strout's 'My Name Is Lucy Barton'|last=Messud|first=Claire|date=January 4, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 7, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} The novel topped The New York Times bestseller list.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/books/review-elizabeth-strout-anything-is-possible.html|title=Elizabeth Strout's Lovely New Novel Is a Requiem for Small-Town Pain|last=Senior|first=Jennifer|date=April 26, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 7, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} It was also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Strout broke from her usual multi-year break in between novels to publish Anything Is Possible (2017), her sixth novel.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/04/25/523586746/anything-is-possible-is-unafraid-to-be-gentle|title='Anything Is Possible' Is Unafraid To Be Gentle|first=Heller|last=McAlpine|website=NPR.org|date=April 25, 2017|access-date=June 7, 2017}} Anything Is Possible was called a "literary mean joke" due to its "hurting men and women, desperate for liberation from their wounds" in contrast to its title. The novel had her noted as "a master of the story cycle" by Heller McCalpin of NPR. It was largely seen as an advance on her previous book due to its "ability to render quiet portraits of the indignities and disappointments of normal life, and the moments of grace and kindness we are gifted in response" according to Susan Scarf Merrell of The Washington Post.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/anything-is-possible-demonstrates-what-elizabeth-strout-does-best/2017/04/24/e2ea3a36-1df2-11e7-ad74-3a742a6e93a7_story.html|title='Anything Is Possible' demonstrates what Elizabeth Strout does best|last=Merrell|first=Susan Scarf|date=April 24, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 14, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}} Anything Is Possible won The Story Prize for books published in 2017.{{cite web |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/books/article/Elizabeth-Strout-wins-Story-Prize-for-Anything-12718148.php |title=Elizabeth Strout wins Story Prize for 'Anything Is Possible' |work=San Francisco Chronicle |first=John |last=McMurtrie |date= February 28, 2018}}

A sequel to Olive Kitteridge, titled Olive, Again, was published in October 2019.{{Cite web |url=https://www.apnews.com/da7aff1df14944e6bf779b795f6b68e6 |title=New stories of an aging Olive in 'Olive, Again' |last=Weaver |first=Kendal |date= October 14, 2019 |website=Associated Press |access-date= October 19, 2019}} Olive, Again was selected for Oprah's Book Club.{{cite web |last1=Winfrey |first1=Oprah |title=Oprah's New Book Club Pick: Olive, Again, by Elizabeth Strout |url=https://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/oprahs-new-book-club-pick-olive-again-by-elizabeth-strout_1 |website=Oprah.com |access-date=10 January 2025}}

In October 2021, Oh William! was published.{{cite web | last1=Woodson | first1=Jacqueline | last2=Wood | first2=Charlotte | last3=Gyasi | first3=Yaa | title=Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout: 9780812989441 | website=PenguinRandomhouse.com | date=June 27, 2022 | url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/534452/oh-william-by-elizabeth-strout/ | access-date=June 30, 2022}} The novel revisits the world of Lucy Barton, and according to Strout, is primarily about "how hard it is ever to know anyone, including ourselves".{{cite news |last1=Bobrow |first1=Emily |title=Novelist Elizabeth Strout Never Judges Her Characters |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/novelist-elizabeth-strout-never-judges-her-characters-11634315174 |access-date=April 4, 2022 |work=Wall Street Journal |date=October 15, 2021}} {{subscription required}} It was named to the shortlist of the 2022 Booker Prize.{{Cite web |title=The Booker Prize 2022 {{!}} The Booker Prizes |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/2022 |access-date=2022-10-05 |website=thebookerprizes.com |language=en}}

A year later Strout published a pandemic novel, Lucy by the Sea. It portrays Lucy and her ex-husband William quarantining in Maine. The New York Times Book review praised the "intimacy and candor" of Lucy's voice, noting that her halting rhythms resonate.{{cite web |last1=Cain |first1=Hamilton |title=What Happens When Ex-Spouses Quarantine Together? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/books/review/lucy-by-the-sea-lucy-barton.html |website=The New York Times Book Review |access-date=10 January 2025}}

In 2024, Strout returned to her characters Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and Isabelle Goodrow, now all living in Crosby, Maine, in Tell Me Everything. Oprah selected the novel for her book club.{{cite web |last1=Winfrey |first1=Oprah |title=Oprah's 107th Book Club Pick: Tell Me Everything, by Elizabeth Strout |url=https://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/oprahs-107th-book-club-pick-tell-me-everything-by-elizabeth-strout |website=Oprah.com |access-date=10 January 2025}} The Washington Post praised it as "canny and radiant."{{cite web |last1=Cain |first1=Hamilton |title=Elizabeth Strout's "Tell Me Everything" is a Canny, Radiant Book |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/09/10/elizabeth-strout-tell-me-everything-review/ |website=The Washington Post |access-date=10 January 2025}} The New York Times Book Review praised "the abundance of searing and plain-spoken insights."{{cite web |last1=Schaitkin |first1=Alexis |title=Elizabeth Strout Gets the Gang Back Together for a Murder Mystery |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/07/books/review/elizabeth-strout-tell-me-everything.html |website=The New York Times Book Review |access-date=10 January 2025}} The New Republic found the novel suffered from sentimentality.{{cite web |last1=Hall |first1=Linda |title=Elizabeth Strout's Plunge into Sentimentality |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/185794/elizabeth-strouts-plunge-sentimentality |website=The New Republic |access-date=10 January 2025}} The TLS found similar fault with sentimentality and argued the novel was{{cite web |last1=SIlcox |first1=Beejay |title=Olive Meets Lucy |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/literature/fiction/telll-me-everything-elizabeth-strout-book-review-beejay-silcox |website=TLS |access-date=10 January 2025}} a "jostling, jarring mess."

Personal life

Strout is married to former Maine Attorney General James Tierney, lecturer in law at Harvard Law School{{Cite web|last=School|first=Harvard Law|title=James E. Tierney | Harvard Law School|url=https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10888/Tierney|access-date=February 20, 2022|language=en}} and founding director of State AG, an educational resource on the office of state attorney general.{{Cite web|title=StateAG.org|url=https://www.stateag.org/|access-date=February 20, 2022|website=StateAG.org|language=en-US}} She divides her time between New York City and Brunswick, Maine. Strout's daughter Zarina Shea is a playwright.{{Cite news |last=Kellaway |first=Kate |date=2021-10-17 |title=Elizabeth Strout: ‘I’ve thought about death every day since I was 10’ |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/oct/17/elizabeth-strout-oh-william-interview-lucy-barton |access-date=2024-04-23 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}

Bibliography

=Novels=

Amy and Isabelle (1998) {{ISBN|978-1-84983-304-2}}, {{OCLC|1019991003}}
Abide with Me (2006) {{ISBN|978-0-7434-6228-0}}, {{OCLC|992776727}}
Olive Kitteridge (2008) {{ISBN|978-1-4558-1505-0}}, {{OCLC|765624834}}
The Burgess Boys (2013) {{ISBN|978-1-4711-2738-0}}, {{OCLC|990775129}}
My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016) {{ISBN|978-0-8129-7952-7}}, {{OCLC|978251684}}
Anything Is Possible (2017) {{ISBN|978-0-241-24879-9}}, {{OCLC|1023363064}}
Olive, Again (2019) {{ISBN|978-0-8129-8647-1}}, {{OCLC|1184681389}}
Oh William! (2021) {{ISBN|978-0-8129-8943-4}}, {{OCLC|1200038997}}
Lucy by the Sea (2022) {{ISBN|978-0-593-44606-5}}
Tell Me Everything (2024) {{ISBN|978-0241634356}} {{cite web |last=Plotz |first=David |date=2024-09-22 |title=A Murder Story That’s Not About a Murder |url=https://slate.com/culture/2024/09/books-elizabeth-strouts-novel-is-a-murder-mystery-but-thats-beside-the-point.html |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=Slate Magazine}}{{cite web |last=Schaitkin |first=Alexis |date=2024-09-07 |title=Book Review: ‘Tell Me Everything,’ by Elizabeth Strout |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/07/books/review/elizabeth-strout-tell-me-everything.html |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=The New York Times}}{{cite web |last=Merrill |first=Rob |date=2024-09-09 |title=Book Review: Elizabeth Strout brings all her favorite Mainers together in 'Tell Me Everything' |url=https://apnews.com/article/tell-me-everything-elizabeth-strout-review-292f2c06fe3f06117f83068d75e2bb6e |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=AP News}}

=Essays and other contributions=

{{cite book |editor1=Offill, Jenny |editor2=Elissa Schappell |others=Introduction by Francine Prose |author=|title=The friend who got away : twenty women's true-life tales of friendships that blew up, burned out, or faded away |url=https://archive.org/details/friendwhogotaway00offi |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |date=2005 |pages= |chapter=}}

=Profiles of Strout=

{{cite magazine |author=Levy, Ariel |author-link=Ariel Levy (writer) |date=May 1, 2017 |title= Elizabeth Strout's Long Homecoming: The author of 'Olive Kitteridge"' left Maine, but it didn't leave her|department=Life and Letters |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=93 |issue=11 |pages=22–26 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/01/elizabeth-strouts-long-homecoming }}Online version is titled "Elizabeth Strout's long homecoming".

Egan, Elisabeth. "At 66, Elizabeth Strout Has Reached Maximum Productivity."{{cite web |last1=Egan |first1=Elisabeth |title=At 66, Elizabeth Strout Has Reached Maximum Productivity. The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/03/books/elizabeth-strout-lucy-by-the-sea.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=10 January 2025}}

References

External links

[https://anchor.fm/cuseconversations/episodes/Elizabeth-Strout-L82-Pulitzer-Prize-Winning-Author-emsgp5 Strout on 'Cuse Conversations Podcast in 2020]

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Category:1956 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American novelists

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Category:American women novelists