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Barbara Kingsolver

バーバラ・キングソルヴァー

Barbara Kingsolver

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1955-04-08 （Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Carlisle, Kentucky (childhood) → Congo (brief childhood residence) → Virginia (Appalachia region, current residence)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Poet, Essayist
Active Years
1988-
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Letters (member)

Education

DePauw University
Biology
Degree: Bachelor of Science
Period: 在学〜1977年卒業
Year of Graduation: 1977
Country: United States
Entered on a music scholarship, later changed major to biology. Graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
University of Arizona
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (graduate)
Degree: Master's degree
Period: 1980〜（大学院在学）
Country: United States
Enrolled in graduate school in 1980 and earned a master's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology.

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
2023
Work: Demon Copperhead
Organization: The Pulitzer Prizes
Result: Won
Women's Prize for Fiction
2010
Work: The Lacuna
Organization: Women's Prize for Fiction
Result: Won
Women's Prize for Fiction
2023
Work: Demon Copperhead
Organization: Women's Prize for Fiction
Result: Won
National Humanities Medal
2000
Organization: Office of the President / National Endowment for the Humanities
Result: Won
Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award (Dayton Literary Peace Prize)
2011
Organization: Dayton Literary Peace Prize
Result: Won
James Beard Foundation Award (Writing on Food)
2008
Work: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Organization: James Beard Foundation
Result: Won
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
2022
Work: Demon Copperhead
Organization: James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Result: Won

Awards & Nominations

Women's Prize for Fiction 1 appearances
  1. Edition 28 (2023) Winner
    Work: Demon Copperhead

    A modern Appalachian reimagining of David Copperfield that follows a boy through poverty, addiction, foster care, and the hard lessons of growing up. Its comic, forceful voice keeps the novel moving even as it confronts brutal social realities.

    A modern-day David Copperfield about a boy fighting to survive in Appalachia.

    560 pages
    povertyaddictionfoster careAppalachiacoming-of-age

Works

Major Works

The Bean Trees

1988 Fiction

The story of a young woman who leaves Kentucky for Arizona and adopts an abandoned child along the way.

Coming of ageFamilyMigration and roots

The Poisonwood Bible

1998 Historical fiction / Family saga

A multivocal novel chronicling the wife and daughters of a missionary family in the Congo and the consequences of their mission.

ColonialismFamily and cultural conflictReligion and morality

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

2007 Nonfiction (food / lifestyle)

A nonfiction account of the author's family's year-long project to eat predominantly locally produced food.

Local foodSustainabilityFamily life

The Lacuna

2009 Historical fiction

A novel set in early 20th-century Mexico and the United States that intertwines history and personal memory.

Memory and historyArt and politics

Demon Copperhead

2022 Historical fiction / Social novel

A novel inspired by David Copperfield, set in southern Appalachia, addressing the opioid crisis and systemic challenges faced by a young boy.

Opioid crisisPoverty and social structuresComing of age

Bibliography

  • The Bean Trees (1988)
  • Homeland and Other Stories (1989)
  • Animal Dreams (1990)
  • Pigs in Heaven (1993)
  • The Poisonwood Bible (1998)
  • Prodigal Summer (2000)
  • The Lacuna (2009)
  • Flight Behavior (2012)
  • Unsheltered (2018)
  • Demon Copperhead (2022)
  • Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Nonfiction, 2007)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Uses multivocal narratives and detailed descriptionNarrative style that foregrounds social issues and environmental interactions
Recurring Motifs
Community vs. the individualNature and ecosystemsSocial justice

Legacy

Barbara Kingsolver is an American writer known for works foregrounding environmental issues and social justice. She founded the Bellwether Prize to support socially engaged fiction and, through multiple major awards, has had a significant impact on contemporary American literature.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters (member)

Quotes

  • “I never wanted to be famous, and still don't… the universe rewarded me with what I dreaded most.”
    Source: Interview with The Guardian (2010) (2010)

Trivia

  • Established the Bellwether Prize in 2000 to support fiction addressing social change.
  • Was a (former) member of the writers' rock band Rock Bottom Remainders in the late 1990s.
  • For Animal, Vegetable, Miracle she and her family attempted to eat primarily locally produced food for a year.
  • First author to win the Women's Prize for Fiction twice (The Lacuna and Demon Copperhead).