Anita Shreve

Author profile

born

in The United States

January 01, 1946

gender

female

website

http://www.anitashreve.com

genre

Literature & Fiction

About this author

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Anita Shreve grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts (just outside Boston), the eldest of three daughters. Early literary influences include having read Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton when she was a junior in high school (a short novel she still claims as one of her favorites) and everything Eugene O'Neill ever wrote while she was a senior (to which she attributes a somewhat dark streak in her own work). After graduating from Tufts University, she taught high school for a number of years in and around Boston. In the middle of her last year, she quit (something that, as a parent, she finds appalling now) to start writing. "I had this panicky sensation that it was now or never."

Joking that she could wallpaper her bathroom with rejections from magazine...more Anita Shreve grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts (just outside Boston), the eldest of three daughters. Early literary influences include having read Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton when she was a junior in high school (a short novel she still claims as one of her favorites) and everything Eugene O'Neill ever wrote while she was a senior (to which she attributes a somewhat dark streak in her own work). After graduating from Tufts University, she taught high school for a number of years in and around Boston. In the middle of her last year, she quit (something that, as a parent, she finds appalling now) to start writing. "I had this panicky sensation that it was now or never."

Joking that she could wallpaper her bathroom with rejections from magazines for her short stories ("I really could have," she says), she published her early work in literary journals. One of these stories, "Past the Island, Drifting," won an O. Henry prize. Despite this accolade, she quickly learned that one couldn't make a living writing short fiction. Switching to journalism, Shreve traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, where she lived for three years, working as a journalist for an African magazine. One of her novels, The Last Time They Met, contains bits and pieces from her time in Africa.

Returning to the United States, Shreve was a writer and editor for a number of magazines in New York. Later, when she began her family, she turned to freelancing, publishing in the New York Times Magazine, New York magazine and dozens of others. In 1989, she published her first novel, Eden Close. Since then she has written 12 other novels, among them The Weight of Water, The Pilot's Wife, The Last Time They Met, A Wedding in December, and Body Surfing.

In 1998, Shreve received the PEN/L. L. Winship Award and the New England Book Award for fiction. In 1999, she received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey, and The Pilot's Wife became the 25th selection of Oprah's Book Club and an international bestseller. In April 2002, CBS aired the film version of The Pilot's Wife, starring Christine Lahti, and in fall 2002, The Weight of Water, starring Elizabeth Hurley and Sean Penn, was released in movie theaters.

Still in love with the novel form, Shreve writes only in that genre. "The best analogy I can give to describe writing for me is daydreaming," she says. "A certain amount of craft is brought to bear, but the experience feels very dreamlike."

Shreve is married to a man she met when she was 13. She has two children and three stepchildren, and in the last eight years has made tuition payments to seven colleges and universities.(less)

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Anita Shreve's Books

Average rating: 3.43 · 193,365 ratings · 16,357 reviews · 30 distinct works · Similar authors

	The Pilot's Wife 3.41 of 5 stars 3.41 avg rating — 49,042 ratings — published 1998 — 53 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fortune's Rocks 3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 avg rating — 14,178 ratings — published 1999 — 56 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Light on Snow 3.47 of 5 stars 3.47 avg rating — 14,840 ratings — published 2004 — 45 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Weight of Water 3.57 of 5 stars 3.57 avg rating — 13,882 ratings — published 1997 — 40 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Testimony 3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 avg rating — 14,265 ratings — published 2008 — 39 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sea Glass 3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 avg rating — 13,397 ratings — published 2002 — 43 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Wedding in December 3.01 of 5 stars 3.01 avg rating — 12,101 ratings — published 2005 — 48 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Body Surfing 3.28 of 5 stars 3.28 avg rating — 10,535 ratings — published 2007 — 38 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Time They Met 3.47 of 5 stars 3.47 avg rating — 9,918 ratings — published 2001 — 46 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	All He Ever Wanted 3.11 of 5 stars 3.11 avg rating — 8,726 ratings — published 2003 — 37 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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November 2008, Anita Shreve
"I first began thinking about the risks of (very) underage drinking. Usually, it's a single risky or careless moment with catastrophic consequences that intrigues me. " ...More

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Quotes by Anita Shreve

“To leave, after all, was not the same as being left.”
― Anita Shreve, The Pilot's Wife

tags: anita-shreve, leaving, lesson, life, the-pilot-s-wife

112 people liked it

“Love is not simply the sum of sweet greetings and wrenching partings and kisses and embraces, but is made up more of the memory of what has happened and the imagining of what is to come.”
― Anita Shreve, Fortune's Rocks

75 people liked it

“I thought about how one tiny decision can change a life. A decision that takes only a split second to make.”
― Anita Shreve, Light on Snow

58 people liked it

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Polls

What is your choice for MARCH 2013 PRE-2012 Book of the Month?

The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes

5 votes, 29.4%

The Weight of Waterby Anita Shreve

4 votes, 23.5%

Rules of Civilityby Amor Towles

3 votes, 17.6%

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

2 votes, 11.8%

Still Lifeby Louise Penny

Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1)

2 votes, 11.8%

Red Hook Roadby Ayelet Waldman

1 vote, 5.9%

The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe

0 votes, 0.0%

The Sisters Brothersby Patrick deWitt

0 votes, 0.0%

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

0 votes, 0.0%

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

0 votes, 0.0%

17 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
You'll love this ...: Books about flying	6	55	Jan 20, 2009 10:26am
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL WINTER CHALLENGE - 2008/2009	2174	3544	Mar 04, 2009 07:03am
Book Giveaways: I'm giving away Testimony by Anita Shreve	1	20	Apr 21, 2009 03:57pm
The Next Best Boo...: Joy's Personal Reading Goals	15	164	Jun 04, 2009 08:57am
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL SPRING CHALLENGE - 2009	6462	8063	Jun 14, 2009 02:57pm

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Anita Shreve

Author profile

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Anita Shreve's Books

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Quotes by Anita Shreve

Polls

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Anita's Fans (1037)

Anita Shreve

Author profile

combine editionsAnita Shreve's Books

Upcoming Events

Interviews

Quotes by Anita Shreve

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

combine editions
Anita Shreve's Books