Gail Godwin

About the Gail Godwin

Gail Godwinis an American novelist and short story writer. Godwin has written 14 novels, two short story collections, three non-fiction books, and ten libretti. Her primary literary accomplishments are her novels, which have included five best-sellers and three finalists for the National Book Award. Most of her books are realistic fiction novels that follow a character’s psychological and intellectual development, often based on themes taken from Godwin’s own life.

Godwin was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but raised mostly in Asheville, North Carolina by her mother and grandmother. She adopted her mother’s interest in writing at an early age and obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hilland Ph.D.in English Literature.

While at the University of Iowa, Godwin’s dissertation became her first novel, The Perfectionists. By 1976 she had become a successful writer and author of three books. In particular, two books written by her in the 1980s, A Mother and Two Daughtersand A Southern Familybecame one of her more commercially successful novels.