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	<author id="4826">
  <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
  <fans-count type="integer">13</fans-count>
  <followers-count type="integer">8</followers-count>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1212355863p5/4826.jpg</image_url>
  <about><![CDATA[Frances Mayes (born 1940) is an American university professor, poet, memoirist, essayist, and novelist.

Born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, and raised in south central Georgia, Mayes attended Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and obtained her BA from the University of Florida. In 1975 she earned her MA from San Francisco State University, where she eventually became Professor of Creative Writing, director of The Poetry Center, and chair of the Department of Creative Writing.

Mayes has published several works of poetry: &lt;i&gt;Climbing Aconcagua&lt;/i&gt; (1977), &lt;i&gt;Sunday in Another Country&lt;/i&gt; (1977), &lt;i&gt;After Such Pleasures&lt;/i&gt; (1979), &lt;i&gt;The Arts of Fire&lt;/i&gt; (1982), &lt;i&gt;Hours&lt;/i&gt; (1984), and &lt;i&gt;Ex Voto&lt;/i&gt; (1995). In 1996 she published the book &lt;i&gt;Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy&lt;/i&gt;. The book is a memoir of Mayes buying, renovating, and living in an abandoned villa in rural Cortona in Tuscany, a region of Italy. It went to Number One on the &lt;i&gt;New York Times&lt;/i&gt; Best Seller list and remained on the list for over two years. In 2003 the film &lt;i&gt;Under the Tuscan Sun&lt;/i&gt; was released. Adapted to the screen by director Audrey Wells, the movie was loosely based on Mayes's book. In 1999, Mayes followed this literary success with another international bestseller, &lt;i&gt;Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy&lt;/i&gt;, and in 2000 with In Tuscany. Mayes's first novel, &lt;i&gt;Swan&lt;/i&gt;, was published in 2002.

Also a food-and-travel writer, Mayes is the editor of The Best American Travel Writing 2002 and the author of &lt;i&gt;A Year in the World: Journeys of A Passionate Traveller&lt;/i&gt; (2006), tales of her and her husband's travels.

Now writing full time, she and her poet husband divide their time between homes in Hillsborough, North Carolina and Cortona, Italy.
]]></about>    <gender>female</gender>  <hometown>Fitzgerald, Georgia</hometown>      
  
  
  <books>
        <book id="480479">
  <title><![CDATA[Under the Tuscan Sun]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>3.50</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29682</ratings_count>
  <published>2003</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="531421">
  <title><![CDATA[Bella Tuscany]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>3.56</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>801</ratings_count>
  <published>1999</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="127672">
  <title><![CDATA[A Year in the World: Journeys of A Passionate Traveller]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>3.33</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>609</ratings_count>
  <published>2006</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="127682">
  <title><![CDATA[In Tuscany]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>3.66</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>156</ratings_count>
  <published>2000</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="920105">
  <title><![CDATA[Swan]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>3.25</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>106</ratings_count>
  <published>2002</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="7209">
  <title><![CDATA[Bella Tuscany &amp; Under the Tuscan Sun (2 Book Set)]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>3.80</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>74</ratings_count>
  <published>2000</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="127684">
  <title><![CDATA[The Discovery of Poetry: A Field Guide to Reading and Writing Poems]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>3.87</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>45</ratings_count>
  <published>2001</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="127683">
  <title><![CDATA[Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style From the Heart of Italy]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>3.57</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>47</ratings_count>
  <published>2004</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="28076">
  <title><![CDATA[The Best American Travel Writing 2002]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
    </author>
        <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Jason Wilson]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1394977]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>3.32</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>25</ratings_count>
  <published>2002</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="2529313">
  <title><![CDATA[After such pleasures]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[Frances Mayes]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826.Frances_Mayes]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>5.00</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1</ratings_count>
  <published>1979</published>  
  
</book>
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