Ann Patchett (b.1963) is an American novelist whose works often depict the intersecting lives of characters from disparate backgrounds.
Born in Los Angeles, Patchett was educated at Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Iowa. Her first three novels—The Patron Saint of Liars (1992,) Taft (1994,) and The Magician’s Assistant (1997)—established her reputation as an innovative and imaginative writer, capable of inhabiting a wide range of voices.
Patchett’s Bel Canto (2001,) winner of the 2002 Orange Prize and the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award, chronicles the deep relationships in a hostage crisis in a fictional South American country.
In 2004, Patchett published Truth and Beauty, a memoir about her friendship with Irish-American poet and memoirist Lucy Grealy (1963–2002.) Patchett’s first children’s book is Lambslide (2019.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Ann Patchett
When you were looking for the big fight, the moment that you thought i would knock everything over, nothing much happened at all
—Ann Patchett
Topics: Worry
Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.
—Ann Patchett
I believe that my gift in this world is not that I’m smarter or more talented than anyone else: it’s that I had a singular goal. I don’t want other stuff: friends, kids, travel. What makes me happy is writing.
—Ann Patchett
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
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