Barbara Kingsolver
Author of The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel
About the Author
Barbara Kingsolver was born on April 8, 1955 in Annapolis, Maryland and grew up in Eastern Kentucky. As a child, Kingsolver used to beg her mother to tell her bedtime stories. She soon started to write stories and essays of her own, and at the age of nine, she began to keep a journal. After show more graduating with a degree in biology form De Pauw University in Indiana in 1977, Kingsolver pursued graduate studies in biology and ecology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She earned her Master of Science degree in the early 1980s. A position as a science writer for the University of Arizona soon led Kingsolver into feature writing for journals and newspapers. Her articles have appeared in a number of publications, including The Nation, The New York Times, and Smithsonian magazines. In 1985, she married a chemist, becoming pregnant the following year. During her pregnancy, Kingsolver suffered from insomnia. To ease her boredom when she couldn't sleep, she began writing fiction Barbara Kingsolver's first fiction novel, The Bean Trees, published in 1988, is about a young woman who leaves rural Kentucky and finds herself living in urban Tucson. Since then, Kingsolver has written other novels, including Holding the Line, Homeland, and Pigs in Heaven. In 1995, after the publication of her essay collection High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never, Kingsolver was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from her alma mater, De Pauw University. Her latest works include The Lacuna and Flight Behavior. Barbara's nonfiction book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was written with her family. This is the true story of the family's adventures as they move to a farm in rural Virginia and vow to eat locally for one year. They grow their own vegetables, raise their own poultry and buy the rest of their food directly from farmers markets and other local sources. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Barbara Kingsolver
The Complete Fiction: The Bean Trees, Homeland, Animal Dreams, Pigs in Heaven (1995) 90 copies, 3 reviews
Homeland {short story} 2 copies
Kingsolver, Barbara Archive 1 copy
Loveroot * 1 copy
falling house 1 copy
Kingsolver Barbara 1 copy
Demon Coppperhead 1 copy
KIN Verano pródigo 1 copy
Associated Works
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (1998) — Foreword, some editions — 4,983 copies, 130 reviews
A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There (1949) — Introduction, some editions — 4,623 copies, 64 reviews
Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times (2001) — Contributor — 455 copies, 4 reviews
Sisters of the Earth: Women's Prose and Poetry About Nature (1991) — Contributor — 406 copies, 5 reviews
Teaching with Fire: Poetry That Sustains the Courage to Teach (2003) — Contributor — 205 copies, 1 review
Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: Work from 1970 to the Present (2007) — Contributor — 201 copies, 2 reviews
I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of the Great Writers (1994) — Contributor — 184 copies, 5 reviews
This Is My Best: Great Writers Share Their Favorite Work (2004) — Contributor — 165 copies, 3 reviews
Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America's Past and Each Other (2001) — Contributor — 134 copies, 1 review
War No More: Three Centuries of American Antiwar and Peace Writing (2016) — Contributor — 94 copies, 1 review
Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude (1994) — Contributor — 70 copies, 3 reviews
Did My Mama Like to Dance? and Other Stories about Mothers and Daughters (1994) — Contributor — 41 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Kingsolver, Barbara
- Legal name
- Kingsolver, Barbara Ellen
- Birthdate
- 1955-04-08
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Annapolis, Maryland, USA
- Places of residence
- Carlisle, Kentucky, USA
Léopoldville, Congo (now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Greencastle, Indiana, USA
Tucson, Arizona, USA
Washington County, Virginia, USA
England, UK (show all 8)
France
Canary Islands, Spain - Education
- DePauw University (BS|1977|biology)
University of Arizona (MS|ecology and evolutionary biology) - Occupations
- novelist
poet
short-story writer - Relationships
- Kingsolver, Camille (daughter)
Hopp, Steven (husband)
Hopp, Lily (daughter) - Organizations
- Rock Bottom Remainders (band)
- Awards and honors
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2023)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction (2022)
National Humanities Medal (2000)
Best American Science and Nature Writing (2001)
Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award (2011)
Arizona Press Club Award for Outstanding Feature Writing (1986) (show all 14)
Women's Prize for Fiction (2010, 2023)
Orange Prize for Fiction (2010)
James Beard Foundation Award (2008)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (1993)
Library of Virginia Lifetime Achievement Award (2014)
Virginia Women in History (2018)
Honorary Doctorate of Letters, DePauw University (1994)
Phi Beta Kappa (DePauw University, 1977) - Agent
- Frances Goldin (Frances Goldin Literary Agency)
- Short biography
- Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona and worked as a freelance writer before she began writing novels. Her widely known works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a non-fiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments.
Members
Discussions
"Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver in 75 Books Challenge for 2023 (March 29)
August 2019: Barbara Kingsolver in Monthly Author Reads (December 2020)
Barbara Kingsolver: American Author Challenge in 75 Books Challenge for 2015 (December 2015)
[The Lacuna] by [[Barbara Kingsolver]] in Orange January/July (July 2011)
Reviews
Lists
Gen X Library (1)
Five star books (2)
To Read (4)
Unread books (3)
Carole's List (6)
Africa (1)
First Novels (1)
BBC Big Read (1)
AP Lit (1)
A Novel Cure (1)
Nineties (1)
Family Drama (1)
Best Audiobooks (1)
Women Writers (1)
Sense of place (1)
Best Young Adult (1)
Favourite Books (2)
Books to Read (1)
Garden-fiction (1)
100 New Classics (1)
Dead narrators (1)
1990s (2)
Labor History (1)
hopes (1)
Female Author (6)
Review 3 (1)
Nature Writing (1)
Florida (1)
Books with Twins (1)
Climate Change (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 42
- Also by
- 31
- Members
- 90,132
- Popularity
- #109
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 2,213
- ISBNs
- 566
- Languages
- 20
- Favorited
- 551