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Joyce Carol Oates

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Joyce Carol Oates, or "JCO," (June 16, 1938 - ) is a noted 20th and 21st century American author and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton University, where she has taught since 1978 [link]. Oates is also the editor of the Norton anthology Telling Stories - An Anthology for Writers [link]. She serves as a contributing editor for The Ontario Review, the literary quarterly for which her husband is the editor.

Contents

Background and education

Oates was born in Lockport, New York and grew up in the New York countryside. She attended a one-room school as a child.

Oates began to write stories with the typewriter she received from her grandmother when she was 14. She excelled in school, and she worked for her high school newspaper called WISP at Williamsville High School in Williamsville, NY. (Now called Williamsville South High School) Oates won a scholarship to attend Syracuse University. She also won the "college short story" contest sponsored by Mademoiselle when she was 19. After graduating as valedictorian from Syracuse in 1960, Oates received her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1961.

Career

Oates taught at the University of Detroit, publishing her first novel, With Shuddering Fall, when she was 28. Her novel them received the National Book Award in 1970. Oates has also written several books, mostly mystery novels, under the pen names Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly. She also taught at the University of Windsor in Canada for ten years before moving to Princeton in 1978.

Her frequently anthologized, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"[link] (1966), was dedicated to Bob Dylan [link]. Oates wrote the story while listening to Dylan's song, ["It's All Over Now Baby Blue"]. This story was also the basis for the film, Smooth Talk, starring Laura Dern. The story itself is loosely based on the serial killer Charles Schmid, also known as ["The Pied Piper of Tucson"]. Oates' story was transformed into a song entitled "The Salesman, Denver Max" by The Blood Brothers and is featured on their album, ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn.

Oates is a member of the Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Select awards and honors

Winner:

Nominated:

Bibliography

Novels

Novels as "Rosamond Smith"

Novels as "Lauren Kelly"

Novellas

Short Story Collections

Drama

Essays and Criticism

Poetry

Young Adult

Children

External links

Biographies: Websites and reviews: Interviews and Speeches:

 

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