Barbara Kingsolver was born on April 8th, 1955. She grew up in Carlisle, a town in eastern Kentucky. She attended DePauw University, majoring in biology, and graduated in 1997. Later, she attended graduate school at the University of Arizona. She has worked in numerous parts of the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, Mexico, and South America. Her bestselling novel, The Poisonwood Bible (1998), was inspired by her time in South Africa. The book was a finalist for various awards, and won the Boeke Prize. It was chosen by Oprah as one of her top ten books of the decade.

Kingsolver has written several other acclaimed books, including The Bean Trees, Prodigal Summer, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Her latest novel is The Lacuna.  Her works have been translated into over two dozen languages, and have been included in the major curriculum for high schools and colleges.  Writer’s Digest named Kingsolver one of the most important writers of the 20th century. 

Kingsolver is married with two daughters; her family lives in the Appalachian Mountains.  Starting in April 2005, Kinsolver and her family spent a year eating as local as possible.  They grew some of their own food on their farm in rural Virginia, and obtained most of the rest from other local farmers.  This experience is chronicled in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. 

 

Kingsolver's Official Website

Kingsolver Quotes:

"The options were limited--grow up to be a farmer or a farmer's wife."

"The writing of fiction is a dance between truth and invention.”

"What keeps me awake at the wheel is the thrill of trying something completely new with each book. I’m not a risk-taker in life, generally speaking, but as a writer I definitely choose the fast car, the impossible rock face, the free fall.”