Jane Smiley

Crafting words into compelling fiction is a talent not many people can boast of possessing. Jane Smiley has that talent in spades and has even won a prestigious Pulitzer Prize for her prolific career as a fiction writer.

Although she was born in Los Angeles, California, Jane Smiley came of age in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, which probably helped her hone and craft her Midwestern sensibility that seeps through her books and also provides many of their settings. For her undergraduate education, she attended Vassar College and then received both a master of fine arts degree and a doctorate from the University of Iowa. She also received a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship during her doctorate program, which afforded her the opportunity to study in Iceland for a year.

At the age of just 30, the first Jane Smiley appearance in print as a published fiction author arrived with the publication of her very first novel, “Barn Blind.” Success was not far behind, and a Jane Smiley appearance in print for the short story “Lily” even earned her the O. Henry Award in 1985. As an author, the most famous Jane Smiley appearance is for the best seller “A Thousand Acres,” which puts a modern spin on William Shakespeare’s epic play “King Lear.” The book elevated Jane Smiley to the elite group of Pulitzer Prize winners for fiction and was turned into a movie in 1997 starring Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfieffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Robards.

If you have ever read one of Jane Smiley’s books, chances are that you count yourself among the legion of Jane Smiley fans. In that case, you would greatly enjoy hearing how she comes up with her book ideas during a Jane Smiley motivational speaking engagement. GovivaSpeakers.com has years of experience when it comes to serving as a booking agent for celebrity speaker appearances, and we can handle all the coordination for your Jane Smiley keynote address.