Judith Guest
{{short description|American novelist and screenwriter (born 1936)}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox writer
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| name = Judith Guest
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1936|3|29|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
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| education = University of Michigan (BA)
| occupation = Novelist
| period = 1976–present
| genre = Literary fiction, mystery
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| website = {{URL|judithguest.com}}
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Judith Guest (born March 29, 1936) is an American novelist and screenwriter. She was born in Detroit, Michigan and is the great-niece of Poet Laureate Edgar Guest (1881–1959).[http://www.judithguest.com/bio.htm Biography of Judith Guest (self-written)] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060617044825/http://judithguest.com/bio.htm |date=2006-06-17 }} She is a recipient of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize.
Early life
Guest attended Detroit's Mumford High School in 1951. When her family moved to Royal Oak, she transferred to Royal Oak High School; she graduated in 1954. Guest then studied English and psychology at the University of Michigan. She was also a member of Sigma Kappa sorority.{{cn|date=April 2022}} Guest graduated with a BA in education.
Career
Guest taught at a public school for several years before deciding to work full-time completing a novel.
Guest's first book, Ordinary People, published in 1976, was the basis of the 1980 film Ordinary People that won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
This novel and two others, Second Heaven (1982) and Errands (1997), are about adolescents forced to deal with crises in their families. Guest also wrote the screenplay for the 1987 film Rachel River.
Guest co-authored the mystery Killing Time in St. Cloud (1988) with novelist Rebecca Hill. Guest's most recent book, The Tarnished Eye (2004), is loosely based on a real unsolved crime in her native Michigan.
Personal life
Guest was married for nearly 50 years to her college sweetheart, businessman Larry LaVercombe (1936-2009). Guest, her three sons, and their families, reside in Edina, Minnesota.{{cite web|url=http://www.detroitpslbasketball.com/?page_id=40|title=Detroit PSL Basketball » Detroit Free Press All-PSL/Detroit — 1950s|publisher=|accessdate=25 January 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.detroitpslbasketball.com/?page_id=104|title=Detroit PSL Basketball » All-Time PSL Single-Game Scoring Leaders|publisher=|accessdate=25 January 2017}}
Bibliography
- Ordinary People (1976)
- Second Heaven (1982)
- Killing Time in St. Cloud (with Rebecca Hill) (1988)
- The Mythic Family (essay) (1988)
- Errands (1997)
- The Tarnished Eye (2004)
References
External links
- [http://www.judithguest.com Official website]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716033149/http://archives.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/reporting/features/judith-guest-ordinary-person 2004 Judith Guest interview] secretsofthecity.com
- [https://reflections.mndigital.org/catalog/p16022coll38:9#/kaltura_video Judith Guest is interviewed by Sharon Charles of Hennepin County Library], Northern Lights Minnesota Author Interview TV Series #32 (1988)
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Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American women novelists
Category:Novelists from Michigan
Category:Novelists from Minnesota
Category:University of Michigan School of Education alumni
Category:American women screenwriters
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:Screenwriters from Michigan