Annie Dillard

Annie Dillard was an American author best known for her narrative prose in fiction and non-fiction. She published poetry, essays and literary criticism, as well as two novels and a memoir. Her 1974 book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. She also taught for more than twenty years in the English department at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dillard was the eldest of three daughters and grew up in the city’s Point Breeze neighborhood. Her memoir An American Childhood (1987) recalls her upbringing, her family and the development of her intellectual curiosity. She described her mother as an energetic nonconformist and her father as a source of knowledge on subjects ranging from plumbing and economics to literature. As a child, she read widely, developing interests in geology, natural history, insects and poetry. Her days were filled with exploring, collecting rocks and insects, drawing, piano and dance lessons, and visits to the public library.