Ann Beattie

I am a student at Antelope Valley College in Palmdale, California. I think Ann Beattie is an interesting author, because her stories seem to mirror what others her age are experiencing. I am the same age as Ann Beattie; I can easily understand her themes, and empathize with her characters.

The canvas of contemporary literature is a collage of stories, each written in the specific style of its author. One author with a unique approach to storytelling is Ann Beattie; she writes strictly from the perspective of her generation. As Beattie matures, so does her attitude towards her themes and characters.

Ann Beattie is a modern American author, born in Washington, D.C. on September 8, 1947, and her husband is painter Lincoln Percy. Beattie has an extensive educational background as a student and as a teacher; she has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from American University, and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Connecticut. In 1972, she began work on her Ph.D., but did not continue in the program. Beattie was a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in English at Harvard in 1977, the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, and has an award of excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (Magill 178-179).

Ann Beattie’s academic career shows a strong foundation for her professional accomplishments as a writer of both fiction and nonfiction; she has written text for an art book, several novels, and numerous short stories. The short story is her forte. Many of Beattie’s stories originate as articles in publications like The New Yorker, and then become available in book form, as a collection of short stories (Magill 178-179). Her stories are part of many college literature anthologies. What Was Mine: Stories, and Where You’ll Find Me, and Other Stories are the titles of two of Ann Beattie’s books.

As an American author, Ann Beattie presents a picture of contemporary life to her reader; she has a unique approach to storytelling.