Topic: Happy Birthday Annie

[jackster]

Today, 22 August, is Annie Proulx's birthday (1935).
Happy Birthday Annie (72)!
Without your amazing creative genius NONE of this would be possible.

 

[Rønnaug]

Yes congratulations Annie

[jackster]

Today, 22 August, is Annie Proulx's birthday (1935).
Happy Birthday Annie (72)!
Without your amazing creative genius NONE of this would be possible.

 

Ditto, 'cept she's now 73. Thanks again Ms. Proulx. Me thinks you're fabulous.

                

[Audrey twist]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE 

[smartestsonia]

Happy Birthday Annie..thanks for Brokeback Mountain..am grateful

[jackster]

Another year, another big thanks Annie, for makin' it all possible.

From the Writer's Almanac webpage: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

It's the birthday of Annie Proulx, born on this day in Norwich, Connecticut (1935). She had four younger sisters, and she said: "I always wanted a brother and I liked the things that men did; when I was growing up, women didn't go skiing, or hiking, or have adventurous canoe trips, or any of that sort of thing. I felt the lack of a brother whom I imagined could introduce me to the vigorous outdoor activities that my sisters were not particularly interested in. If you live in a woman's world and that's all there is, the other side of the equation looks pretty interesting." Which is why, when she started writing fiction much later, almost all her main characters were male.

Annie Proulx studied history as an undergraduate and a graduate student, and did lots of academic research. After she dropped out of her Ph.D. program, she moved to a town on the border of Canada. She got involved with the back-to-the-land movement, and she started freelancing to make a living, writing how-to manuals. She wrote about growing grapes, building window shutters and fences, making cider and cheese. She spent a lot of time fly-fishing, hiking, and skiing.

Her editor suggested that she write a novel, and she just laughed because she didn't have any idea how to write a novel. But a couple of years later, she was ready to try. She said, "I sat down, and within a half-hour, the whole of Postcards was in my head." Postcards was published in 1992, and a year later Annie Proulx published The Shipping News, set in rural Newfoundland. It won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and Annie Proulx became a celebrity.

She has published several novels and books of short stories since then. One of these books, Close Range: Wyoming Stories (1999), has a story about two cowboys who become lovers, a story called "Brokeback Mountain," which was made into a movie starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

When someone asked her about her advice to writers, she said: "Spend some time living before you start writing. What I find to be very bad advice is the snappy little sentence, 'Write what you know.' It is the most tiresome and stupid advice that could possibly be given. If we write simply about what we know we never grow. We don't develop any facility for languages, or an interest in others, or a desire to travel and explore and face experience head-on. We just coil tighter and tighter into our boring little selves. What one should write about is what interests one."

[Raisa]

Happy birthday Annie and big thank you!

[ethan]

Another year, another big thanks Annie, for makin' it all possible.

Ditto.

Happy birthday, Annie. 

[bruxa23]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE!

[jackster]

     

It's the big 75 for Annie this year.
Thanks Ms. Proulx - sure wouldn't be here without you.

 

From the Writer's Almanac webpage 2010: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

It's the birthday of writer Annie Proulx, (books by this author) who also goes by E.A. Proulx or E. Annie Proulx, born Edna Annie Proulx in Norwich, Connecticut (1935). Her father was French Canadian and worked at a textile mill. Her mother, a painter, came from a family that had lived in Connecticut for 300 years. Proulx said that her mother taught her how to observe "everything — from the wale of the corduroy to the broken button to the loose thread to the disheveled mustache to the clouded eye."

She went to college, dropped out, then went back, got a master's, then dropped out of her Ph.D. program. Throughout those years, she got married and divorced three times, had children, worked as a waitress, worked for the post office, and wrote articles for magazines. She wrote about all kinds of things. She made a living, supporting herself and her three sons. She lived in remote places, for a while in a shack in northern Vermont where she foraged, hunted, and fished. She said, "I can do these little chores — getting in my wood or planting in the garden — and feel quite enriched."

And occasionally, she took all that training in observation and wrote short stories. She was so busy that she only averaged about two a year, but she never had trouble getting them published. Finally, she had enough to put together a book, Heart Songs (1988). Her editor was writing up the contract for it and he suggested they put in a novel because she would probably be good at it. Proulx just laughed at him and said she had no idea how to write a novel. But after a while, another editor suggested the same thing, and she said, "I sat down, and within a half-hour, the whole of Postcards was in my head."

Postcards was published in 1992, got great reviews, and she won the PEN/Faulkner Award, the first woman ever to win it. One year later, she published The Shipping News (1993), set in Newfoundland, and she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. She moved to Wyoming in 1994, and published short stories inspired by her new home. Close Range: Wyoming Stories (1999) included the story "Brokeback Mountain," which was made into a hit film in 2005. Her most recent book is Fine Just the Way It Is (2008), another set of Wyoming stories.

She firmly disagrees with the advice "write what you know." She says it produces "tiresome middle-class novels of people who I think are writing about things they know, but you wish to God they didn't. My thing is, learn what you want to write about. Find out about it."

She said, "I believe if you get the landscape right, the characters will step out of it, and they'll be in the right place. The story will come from the landscape."

And Proulx said: "I read omnivorously, I always have, my entire life. I would rather be dead than not read. So, there's always time for that. I read while I eat, and our whole family did. We all had very bad manners at the table. All of our books are stained with spaghetti sauce, and that sort of thing."

[rdx]

She firmly disagrees with the advice "write what you know." She says it produces "tiresome middle-class novels of people who I think are writing about things they know, but you wish to God they didn't. My thing is, learn what you want to write about. Find out about it."

She said, "I believe if you get the landscape right, the characters will step out of it, and they'll be in the right place. The story will come from the landscape."

And Proulx said: "I read omnivorously, I always have, my entire life. I would rather be dead than not read. So, there's always time for that. I read while I eat, and our whole family did. We all had very bad manners at the table. All of our books are stained with spaghetti sauce, and that sort of thing."

Thank you Mr jackster! I find these quotes of Annie very interesting and agreeable.

Yup, we wouldn't be here without Annie. 

[WildCatIsle]

Happy Birthday Annie!  Thank you very much for BBM and to be as you are 

[ethan]

Happy Birthday indeed. 

[chowhound]

All best wishes for a very happy 75th birthday, Annie. No gift we could give you would come close to the gift you gave us with Brokeback Mountain.

[jackster]

Annie keeps pluggin' along, now at 76.
Happy b'day AP, huh?
Thanks a million for the treasure you gave us.

It's the birthday of Annie Proulx, born Edna Annie Proulx in Norwich, Connecticut (1935). As a young woman, she lived in Vermont, published a small newspaper, and supported herself writing how-to books about things like apple cider and fence-building. Some of her early stories were about hunting and fishing, since she was passionate about those pursuits; the only outlet for them was men's outdoor magazines, though, and the editors made her publish them as E.A. Proulx, believing men wouldn't read them if they knew a woman had written them. "The ones who suggested it were from a small Vermont publication," she told Paris Review, "and I got back this awful letter, full of bad spelling and clumsy syntax, suggesting that I should change my name to initials. Very tiresome." She put up with it for a while, but then started writing as "E. Annie" and then "Annie."

Her freelance writing jobs taught her how to research almost anything, and she has since made a career writing fiction based on her extensive research. To write her first novel Postcards (1992), she traveled back and forth across America, stopping in all the places where her homeless main character worked and lived. After she finished that novel, she stumbled upon a map of Newfoundland. She said, "Each place-name had a story — Dead Man's Cove, Seldom Come Bay and Bay of Despair, Exploits River, Plunder Beach. I knew I had to go there, and within 10 minutes of arriving, I'd fallen in love." She explored the island, examined maps, and went to bed every night with a Newfoundland vernacular dictionary. The result was her novel The Shipping News (1993), which became a best-seller and won the Pulitzer Prize.

She now lives in Wyoming. She has become accustomed to sweeping vistas and open spaces, and has lost her taste for New England. "It's small and once you've gotten used to wide plains and long sightlines, it's annoying to have everything folded in on you. Boxlike shrubbery and cloistering trees. Clawing, leafy, shade-producing, sight-obliterating things that are everywhere. It makes me uneasy." She's produced four volumes of Wyoming stories; her 1999 collection, Close Range, included "Brokeback Mountain," which was made into a film in 2005. Her latest book, which came out this year, is a nonfiction account of the building of her house, Bird Cloud (2011).

[chowhound]

Annie keeps pluggin' along, now at 76.
Happy b'day AP, huh?
Thanks a million for the treasure you gave us.

It's the birthday of Annie Proulx, born Edna Annie Proulx in Norwich, Connecticut (1935). As a young woman, she lived in Vermont, published a small newspaper, and supported herself writing how-to books about things like apple cider and fence-building. Some of her early stories were about hunting and fishing, since she was passionate about those pursuits; the only outlet for them was men's outdoor magazines, though, and the editors made her publish them as E.A. Proulx, believing men wouldn't read them if they knew a woman had written them. "The ones who suggested it were from a small Vermont publication," she told Paris Review, "and I got back this awful letter, full of bad spelling and clumsy syntax, suggesting that I should change my name to initials. Very tiresome." She put up with it for a while, but then started writing as "E. Annie" and then "Annie."

Her freelance writing jobs taught her how to research almost anything, and she has since made a career writing fiction based on her extensive research. To write her first novel Postcards (1992), she traveled back and forth across America, stopping in all the places where her homeless main character worked and lived. After she finished that novel, she stumbled upon a map of Newfoundland. She said, "Each place-name had a story — Dead Man's Cove, Seldom Come Bay and Bay of Despair, Exploits River, Plunder Beach. I knew I had to go there, and within 10 minutes of arriving, I'd fallen in love." She explored the island, examined maps, and went to bed every night with a Newfoundland vernacular dictionary. The result was her novel The Shipping News (1993), which became a best-seller and won the Pulitzer Prize.

She now lives in Wyoming. She has become accustomed to sweeping vistas and open spaces, and has lost her taste for New England. "It's small and once you've gotten used to wide plains and long sightlines, it's annoying to have everything folded in on you. Boxlike shrubbery and cloistering trees. Clawing, leafy, shade-producing, sight-obliterating things that are everywhere. It makes me uneasy." She's produced four volumes of Wyoming stories; her 1999 collection, Close Range, included "Brokeback Mountain," which was made into a film in 2005. Her latest book, which came out this year, is a nonfiction account of the building of her house, Bird Cloud (2011).

Indeed, happy birthday, Annie, and all best wishes for many more.

However, the piece about her that Jackster has kindly provided has her still living in Wyoming, presumably in the house she describes in "Bird Cloud". However, I had the impression that she had given up on that house though I guess she could still be living in Wyoming. Or maybe I've got it wrong. It's a small point but anybody else have any info. on where she is currently living?

[jackster]

Indeed, happy birthday, Annie, and all best wishes for many more.

However, the piece about her that Jackster has kindly provided has her still living in Wyoming, presumably in the house she describes in "Bird Cloud". However, I had the impression that she had given up on that house though I guess she could still be living in Wyoming. Or maybe I've got it wrong. It's a small point but anybody else have any info. on where she is currently living?

Howdy CH:
Yeah, I think she gave up WYO for ? - don't know, maybe she went to Denver ( ). This was from the Writer's Almanac, (see my links below) it's frequently incorrect on minutiae, but I didn't bother to track her down.

A quick check of her Simon+Shuster bio page indicates she still lives in WYO, so who knows.
There's a 30 m YouTube video of her reading from Bird Cloud at Dunedin New Zealand in March 2011:

[jackster]

The Love that never grows old . . . . HAPPY B'DAY MS. PROULX  - can never say "thanks" enough

It's the birthday of novelist and short-story writer Annie Proulx, born Edna Ann Proulx in Norwich, Connecticut (1935). She said, "Spend some time living before you start writing."

Proulx was in her 50s when she started writing fiction; her first book was a collection of short stories, Heart Songs (1988). When her editor drew up the contract, he asked if he could put in a clause that she might someday write a novel. She said: "I just laughed madly, had not a clue about writing a novel, or even the faintest desire. I thought of myself as a short-story writer. Period, period, period." Five years later, her second novel, The Shipping News (1993), won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Her books include Accordion Crimes (1996), Close Range: Wyoming Stories (1999), and most recently, Bird Cloud: A Memoir (2011).

She said: "What I find to be very bad advice is the snappy little sentence, 'Write what you know.' It is the most tiresome and stupid advice that could possibly be given. If we write simply about what we know we never grow."

- that's all it took, into my heart.

[tpe]

Best wishes, and a Happy Birthday to Annie! 

[jackster]

Another year for Annie, the one that started it all . . . . thanks again Ms Proulx.

It's the birthday of Annie Proulx, born in Norwich, Connecticut (1935). She was virtually unknown until the early 1990s, when she burst on to the literary scene, publishing her first novels, Postcards (1992) and The Shipping News (1993) when she was in her late 50s. She said she doesn't regret becoming a writer later than most people because, she said, she knows a lot more about life than she did 20 years ago. She said: "I think that's important, to know how the water's gone over the dam before you start to describe it. It helps to have been over the dam yourself."

To write her book Postcards (1951), Proulx traveled back and forth across America, stopping in all the places where her homeless main character worked and lived. After she finished that novel, she stumbled upon a map of Newfoundland. She said, "Each place-name had a story-- Dead Man's Cove, Seldom Come Bay and Bay of Despair, Exploits River, Plunder Beach. I knew I had to go there, and within 10 minutes of arriving, I'd fallen in love." She explored the island, examined maps, and went to bed every night with a Newfoundland vernacular dictionary. The result was her novel The Shipping News (1993), which became a best-seller and won the Pulitzer Prize.

[BBMsheep]

Happy Birthday to Annie! 

[WildCatIsle]

Happy Birthday to Annie! I think it she never be sufficiently grateful for BBM

[chowhound]

Another year for Annie, the one that started it all . . . . thanks again Ms Proulx.

It's the birthday of Annie Proulx, born in Norwich, Connecticut (1935). She was virtually unknown until the early 1990s, when she burst on to the literary scene, publishing her first novels, Postcards (1992) and The Shipping News (1993) when she was in her late 50s. She said she doesn't regret becoming a writer later than most people because, she said, she knows a lot more about life than she did 20 years ago. She said: "I think that's important, to know how the water's gone over the dam before you start to describe it. It helps to have been over the dam yourself."

To write her book Postcards (1951), Proulx traveled back and forth across America, stopping in all the places where her homeless main character worked and lived. After she finished that novel, she stumbled upon a map of Newfoundland. She said, "Each place-name had a story-- Dead Man's Cove, Seldom Come Bay and Bay of Despair, Exploits River, Plunder Beach. I knew I had to go there, and within 10 minutes of arriving, I'd fallen in love." She explored the island, examined maps, and went to bed every night with a Newfoundland vernacular dictionary. The result was her novel The Shipping News (1993), which became a best-seller and won the Pulitzer Prize.

Indeed, happy birthday to Annie P. And thanks to Jackster for once more reminding us.

By the way, where did that photograph of those two decidedly sexy cowboys come from?

[jackster]

 

  HAPPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE  
Your great work has changed and enlightened lives (including mine) who can never thank you enough.

It's the birthday of Annie Proulx, born Edna Annie Proulx in Norwich, Connecticut (1935). As a young woman, she lived in Vermont, published a small newspaper, and supported herself writing how-to books about things like apple cider and fence-building. Some of her early stories were about hunting and fishing, since she was passionate about those pursuits; the only outlet for them was men's outdoor magazines, though, and the editors made her publish them as E.A. Proulx, believing men wouldn't read them if they knew a woman had written them. "The ones who suggested it were from a small Vermont publication," she told Paris Review, "and I got back this awful letter, full of bad spelling and clumsy syntax, suggesting that I should change my name to initials. Very tiresome." She put up with it for a while, but then started writing as "E. Annie" and then "Annie."
Her freelance writing jobs taught her how to research almost anything, and she has since made a career writing fiction based on her extensive research. To write her first novel Postcards (1992), she traveled back and forth across America, stopping in all the places where her homeless main character worked and lived. After she finished that novel, she stumbled upon a map of Newfoundland. She said, "Each place-name had a story — Dead Man's Cove, Seldom Come Bay and Bay of Despair, Exploits River, Plunder Beach. I knew I had to go there, and within 10 minutes of arriving, I'd fallen in love." She explored the island, examined maps, and went to bed every night with a Newfoundland vernacular dictionary. The result was her novel The Shipping News (1993), which became a best-seller and won the Pulitzer Prize.

 

[BBMsheep]

  HAPPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE  
Your great work has changed and enlightened lives (including mine) who can never thank you enough.

Same here. 

Happy Birthday, Annie!

[WildCatIsle]

Same here. 

Happy Birthday, Annie!

I quote 

[jackster]

Yesterday, August 22, 2015, was Annie Proulx 80th birthday. I missed the posting date, but this will have to do.
Dear Annie, where would we all be if it wasn't for you? Not here on EnnisJack.com that's for sure.
I haven't heard about you recently, and I've no idea what you did to celebrate, but I think I speak for many hundreds here thanking you from the bottom of my heart for changing my life in the most positive way.
I hope you are fortunate enough to enjoy many many more.

Here's an edited version of biographical the posts below:

It's the birthday of Annie Proulx, born Edna Annie Proulx in Norwich, Connecticut (1935). As a young woman, she lived in Vermont, published a small newspaper, and supported herself writing how-to books about things like apple cider and fence-building. Some of her early stories were about hunting and fishing, since she was passionate about those pursuits; the only outlet for them was men's outdoor magazines, though, and the editors made her publish them as E.A. Proulx, believing men wouldn't read them if they knew a woman had written them. "The ones who suggested it were from a small Vermont publication," she told Paris Review, "and I got back this awful letter, full of bad spelling and clumsy syntax, suggesting that I should change my name to initials. Very tiresome." She put up with it for a while, but then started writing as "E. Annie" and then "Annie."

Her freelance writing jobs taught her how to research almost anything, and she has since made a career writing fiction based on her extensive research. To write her first novel Postcards (1992), she traveled back and forth across America, stopping in all the places where her homeless main character worked and lived. After she finished that novel, she stumbled upon a map of Newfoundland. She said, "Each place-name had a story — Dead Man's Cove, Seldom Come Bay and Bay of Despair, Exploits River, Plunder Beach. I knew I had to go there, and within 10 minutes of arriving, I'd fallen in love." She explored the island, examined maps, and went to bed every night with a Newfoundland vernacular dictionary. The result was her novel The Shipping News (1993), which became a best-seller and won the Pulitzer Prize.

[BBMsheep]

Happy birthday, Annie!

[jackster]

Happy 81st B-Day Annie!!

 

[BBMsheep]

Happy Birthday, Annie.