Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist to speak at Sweet Briar

Jane Smiley. Photo by Elena Seibert.


The author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “A Thousand Acres” will appear at Sweet Briar College at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, in Memorial Chapel. Jane Smiley will read from her forthcoming book, “Some Luck,” the first in a trilogy chronicling 100 years in America through the story of an Iowa farm family.

In addition to the reading, she will discuss the craft of writing fiction, which she wrote about in her 2005 book “Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel.” She also will share her insights into horses, a subject she has written about in a best-selling novel, the Horses of Oak Valley Ranch young adult series and a memoir.

Smiley — whose work is both popular and critically acclaimed — is the author of over a dozen novels, essays, short stories and five works of nonfiction. She has contributed to myriad newspapers and magazines. Known in the literary world for her range and versatility, Smiley’s writing spans genres from epics to satirical novels to biographies to commentaries — encompassing a breadth of social and cultural issues.

In 2001, Smiley was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2006, she received the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature.

“Some Luck” is scheduled for release Oct. 7 by Alfred A. Knopf. The second and third volumes are slated for release in the spring and fall of 2015.

The reading and book signing are free and open to the public. Some of her previous titles will be available for sale. For more information, email Nell Boeschenstein at nboeschenstein@sbc.edu.