Jean Thompson (author)

Jean Thompson was born in Chicago, Illinois, and during her childhood the family lived briefly in Louisville, Kentucky and Memphis, Tennessee. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and an MFA from Bowling Green State University.{{Cite web|title=Books By Graduates|url=https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/english/creative-writing/books-by-graduates.html|access-date=2021-07-03|website=Bowling Green State University|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last=Flick|first=Jim|date=May 8, 1979|title=Alumni reap literary laurels|url=https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4618&context=bg-news|journal=The BG News|volume= 6| issue = 271|pages=5}} Her first stories were published in little magazines while she was still in her early twenties, and not long after that she began to be published in more visible venues, such as Ploughshares and The New Yorker.{{Cite web|title=About Jean Thompson {{!}} Ploughshares|url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/spring-2014/about-jean-thompson|access-date=2021-06-21|website=www.pshares.org}} Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories series, beginning with the 1979 edition.{{Cite web|title=The Best American Short Stories 1979|url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/best_book/386828-the-best-american-short-stories-1979|access-date=2021-07-03|website=www.goodreads.com}}

Thompson "often writes about the difficulties and complexities of love," and her work "focuses on the lives of ordinary people, often women, living in the overlooked center" of the United States.

• My Wisdom: A Novel (1982), F. Watts ({{ISBN|978-0531098707}})
• Wide Blue Yonder (2001), Simon & Schuster ({{ISBN|978-0743205122}})
• City Boy (2004), Simon & Schuster ({{ISBN|978-0743242820}})
• The Year We Left Home (2011), Simon & Schuster ({{ISBN|978-1439175880}})
• The Humanity Project (2013), Blue Rider Press ({{Isbn|978-0399158711}})
• She Poured Out Her Heart (2016), Blue Rider Press ({{ISBN|978-0399573811}})
• A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl (2018), Simon & Schuster ({{ISBN|978-1501194368}}){{cite web |last1=Miller |first1=Bronwyn |title=Review: A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl |url=https://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/a-cloud-in-the-shape-of-a-girl |website=www.bookreporter.com}}{{cite web |title=A CLOUD IN THE SHAPE OF A GIRL {{!}} Kirkus Reviews |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jean-thompson/a-cloud-in-the-shape-of-a-girl/ |website=kirkusreviews.com |language=en}}
• The Poet's House (2022), Algonquin Books ({{ISBN|978-1643751566}}){{Cite news |title='The Poet's House' is a droll coming-of-age story — and an absolute keeper of a novel |language=en |work=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/07/05/1109798215/the-poets-house-jean-thompson-book-review |access-date=2022-08-27}}{{Cite news |last=Akins |first=Ellen |date=2022-07-22 |title='The Poet's House' is a novel with a joyful, hopeful spirit |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/07/22/poets-house-jean-thompson-book-review/ |access-date=2022-08-27}}

• Gasoline Wars (1982), University of Illinois Press ({{ISBN|978-0252007828}})
• Who Do You Love (1999), Simon & Schuster ({{Isbn|978-0151004164}})
• Throw Like A Girl: Stories (2007), Simon & Schuster ({{Isbn|978-1416541820}}){{cite web |last1=Egan |first1=Jennifer |title=Woman Warriors |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/books/review/Egan-t.html |website=The New York Times |date=2007-06-17}}
• Do Not Deny Me: Stories (2009), Simon & Schuster ({{ISBN|978-1416595632}}){{cite web |last1=Prose |first1=Francine |title=Everyday Misdemeanors |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/books/review/Prose-t.html |website=The New York Times |date=2009-07-16}}
• The Witch: And Other Tales Re-Told (2014), Simon & Schuster ({{ISBN|978-0399170584}}){{cite web |title=The power of myth |url=https://bookpage.com/features/17146-power-myth-fiction |website=BookPage.com |language=en}}

• "Applause, Applause." First appeared in Ploughshares (1977), and selected for the collections Matters of Life and Death (1983), edited by Tobias Wolff ({{ISBN|9780931694141|0931694140}}), and Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (2005), edited by David Sedaris ({{ISBN|0-7432-7612-4}})
• "Paper Covers Rock." First appeared in Mademoiselle, and selected for The Best American Short Stories 1979, edited by Joyce Carol Oates.
• "Remembering Sonny." Selected for The Random Review 1982, edited by Gary Fisketjon and Jonathan Galassi. ({{ISBN|9780394523552|0394523555}})
• "Fire Dreams." Published in The New Yorker, October 31, 1988.
• "The Little Heart." Published in The New Yorker, January 27, 1992.
• "All Shall Love Me and Despair." First published in Mid-American Review, and selected for The Best American Short Stories 1996, edited by John Edgar Wideman.

• "[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/opinion/sunday/all-things-come-to-an-end-even-my-2001-saturn.html All Things Come to an End. Even My 2001 Saturn]." New York Times, March 20, 2016
• "[https://www.pshares.org/issues/spring-2014/introduction Introduction]." Ploughshares, Issue 123 (Spring 2014)

• 1978: National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship{{Cite web|title=Literature Fellowships|url=https://www.arts.gov/grants/recent-grants/literature-fellowships/list-by-year|access-date=2021-06-20|website=www.arts.gov|language=en}}
• 1984: Guggenheim Fellowship{{Cite web|title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation {{!}} Jean Thompson|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/jean-thompson/|access-date=2021-06-20|language=en-US}}
• 1999: Finalist, National Book Award for Fiction (for Who Do You Love){{Cite web|title=National Book Awards 1999|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1999/|access-date=2021-06-20|website=National Book Foundation|language=en-US}}
• 2009-2010: The Best American Short Stories and Pushcart Prize (both for "Wilderness"){{Cite web|title=One Story - Awards|url=https://www.one-story.com/index.php?page=awards|access-date=2021-07-12|website=www.one-story.com}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.jeanthompsononline.com/ Author's website]
• [https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Jean-Thompson/1785237 Author page on publisher's website]
• "[https://bookclubbabble.com/interview-with-jean-thompson-author-of-she-poured-out-her-heart/ Interview with Jean Thompson, Author of She Poured Out Her Heart]." Book Babble.
• Randolph, Ladette. "[https://www.pshares.org/issues/spring-2014/about-jean-thompson About Jean Thompson]." Ploughshares 23 (Spring 2014).

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Category:20th-century American novelists

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American women novelists

Category:American women short story writers

Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni

Category:Novelists from Illinois

Category:1950 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American women

Category:21st-century American women