Anne Tyler (photo by Diana Walker)
UNORTHODOX UPBRINGINGS MAKE GREAT NOVELISTS, or so we are easily led to believe, as we celebrate the birthday on October 25 of Anne Tyler, who did not attend school until she was 11.
Born in 1941, Tyler spent her early childhood in a series of Quaker communities in the North Carolina mountains. She once said that this let her see “the normal world with a certain amount of distance and surprise.”
To date, Tyler has given us 18 marvelous novels, including Breathing Lessons, which earned her the 1989 Pulitzer Prize. No publicity hound, this writer; she rarely goes on book tours, and does not grant face-to-face interviews or make public appearances, though she has recently made herself available through email interviews.
Do what you like, Anne Tyler, on your birthday, and every day. But please keep writing.
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