# Lisa Alther > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lisa_Alther > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lisa_Alther.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Alther > Source revision: 1308921293 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American author and novelist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}} {{infobox writer |name=Lisa Alther |birth_date={{birth date and age|1944|7|23}} |birth_place=[Kingsport, Tennessee](/source/Kingsport%2C_Tennessee), U.S. |occupation={{flatlist| *Author *novelist }} |education=[Wellesley College](/source/Wellesley_College) ([BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts)) |children=1 |website={{URL|http://www.lisaalther.com}} }} '''Lisa Alther''' (born July 23, 1944) is an American [author](/source/author) and [novelist](/source/novelist).{{cite web|url=https://www.vermontwoman.com/articles/2016/0216/03lisa-alther/lisa-alther.html| title= Lisa Alther: American Cultural Humorist |website=Vermont Women|accessdate=2020-07-02}}{{Cite journal|last1=Clark|first1=Alice|last2=Delmas|first2=Sarah|last3=Moulinoux|first3=Nicole|last4=Préher|first4=Gérald|last5=Spill|first5=Frédérique|date=2016-12-01|title="… trying to find out how to balance tragedy and comedy": an Interview with Lisa Alther|url=http://journals.openedition.org/jsse/1775|journal=Journal of the Short Story in English. Les Cahiers de la nouvelle|language=en|issue=67|pages=283–299|issn=1969-6108}} ==Personal life== Alther was born in [Kingsport, Tennessee](/source/Kingsport%2C_Tennessee), in 1944. Her father was a surgeon, while her mother was a homemaker. She has three brothers and a sister.{{Cite web|title=Lisa Alther: Biography|url=http://www.lisaalther.com/biography.html|access-date=2020-10-09|website=www.lisaalther.com}} She graduated from [Wellesley College](/source/Wellesley_College) with a B.A. in English literature in 1966. She then attended the Publishing Procedures Course at [Radcliffe College](/source/Radcliffe_College). After graduation Alther worked briefly for [Atheneum Publishers](/source/Atheneum_Books) in [New York](/source/New_York_(state)) before moving to rural [Vermont](/source/Vermont). Alther wrote fiction steadily for years, without success, collecting more than 250 rejection slips without getting published. She was stubborn however, and determined to succeed. When she finally succeeded, with [Kinflicks](/source/Kinflicks) in 1975, the novel was phenomenally successful.{{Cite web|title=Lisa Alther - Everything2.com|url=https://everything2.com/title/Lisa+Alther|access-date=2020-10-09|website=everything2.com}} Alther now divides her time among [East Tennessee](/source/East_Tennessee), [Vermont](/source/Vermont), and [New York City](/source/New_York_City). She has one daughter.{{Cite web|title=Lisa Alther {{!}} The Flying Pig Bookstore|url=https://www.flyingpigbooks.com/lisa-alther|access-date=2020-10-09|website=www.flyingpigbooks.com}} == Career == Alther is the author of six contemporary novels, ''Kinflicks'', ''Original Sins'', ''Other Women'', ''Bedrock'', ''Five Minutes In Heaven'', ''and Swan Song,'' as well as a small number of published short stories and many magazine articles. She also wrote ''Washed in the Blood,'' a three-part historical novel concerning the earliest European settlement of the southern Appalachians. All of her novels include lesbian or bisexual women characters.{{Cite web|title=interview|url=http://www.artvt.com/writers/alther/p_altherintrws.htm|access-date=2020-10-09|website=www.artvt.com}} She is also known for her humor writing.{{Cite web|title=February/March 2016 - Lisa Alther: American Cultural Humorist by Elayne Clift|url=https://www.vermontwoman.com/articles/2016/0216/03lisa-alther/lisa-alther.html|access-date=2020-10-09|website=www.vermontwoman.com}} She has also written two non-fiction books, ''Kinfolks: Falling Off the Family Tree—the Search for My [Melungeon](/source/Melungeon) Ancestors'' (2007; {{ISBN|1-55970-832-8}}) and ''Blood Feud: The Hatfields and the McCoys: The Epic Story of Murder and Vengeance'' (2012; {{ISBN|978-0762779185}}). Alther has taught Southern fiction at [Saint Michael's College](/source/Saint_Michael's_College) in [Winooski, Vermont](/source/Winooski%2C_Vermont), and at [East Tennessee State University](/source/East_Tennessee_State_University), where she was awarded the Basler Chair. Between 1978 and 1980, Alther lived in [London](/source/London), where she became friends with [Doris Lessing](/source/Doris_Lessing). Lessing took an interest in ''Kinflicks'' and helped get the work published in London through a contact at [Alfred A. Knopf](/source/Alfred_A._Knopf).{{cite book | last1 = Alther | first1 = Lisa | last2 = Gilot | first2 = Francoise | authorlink = | title = About Women: Conversations Between a Writer and a Painter | publisher = Nan Talese Books, [Knopf Doubleday](/source/Random_House) | date = Nov 2015 | location = New York | pages = | isbn = 978-0385539869 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5vGBgAAQBAJ}} It was through Lessing that Alther met the writer, thinker and teacher of [Sufi](/source/Sufism) [mysticism](/source/mysticism), [Idries Shah](/source/Idries_Shah). Shah had adapted many Sufi classical works and [teaching stories](/source/teaching_stories) for contemporary readers, and, taking a great interest in these works, Alther read them all, and she also wrote reviews for Shah's books, such as ''[World Tales](/source/World_Tales)''.{{cite web | last = Alther | first = Lisa | author-link = Lisa Alther | title = Tales From All Over | work = [The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) | date = 21 Oct 1979 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/21/archives/tales-from-all-over-world-tales-folk-tales.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180921083056/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/21/archives/tales-from-all-over-world-tales-folk-tales.html | archive-date = 21 September 2018 | url-status = live | accessdate = 21 Sep 2018}} In 2020 Alther received the Idries Shah Foundation Award for Human Achievement for “contributions to literature.”{{Cite web |last=Cqv13IzvHS8n |date=2020-05-04 |title=Lisa Alther Receives Idries Shah Foundation Award |url=https://authorsguild.org/member-awards/lisa-alther-receives-idries-shah-foundation-award/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=The Authors Guild |language=en-US}} ==Bibliography== * ''[Kinflicks](/source/Kinflicks)'' (1975) * ''Original Sins'' (1981) * ''Other Women'' (1985) * ''[Bedrock](/source/Bedrock_(novel))'' (1990) * ''[Five Minutes In Heaven](/source/Five_Minutes_In_Heaven)'' (1995){{cite news|last1=Perrick|first1=Penny|title=Just lighten up, Lisa (book review)|publisher=Times of London|date=22 July 1995|id={{ProQuest|318306181}}}} * ''[Kinfolks: Falling Off the Family Tree--the Search for My Melungeon Ancestors](/source/Kinfolks%3A_Falling_Off_the_Family_Tree)'' (2007) * ''Washed in the Blood'' (2011) * ''[Blood Feud: The Hatfields and the McCoys: The Epic Story of Murder and Vengeance](/source/Blood_Feud%3A_The_Hatfields_and_the_McCoys%3A_The_Epic_Story_of_Murder_and_Vengeance)'' (2012) == Reviews == * ''Original Sins'' - [https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_1981-07-07_10_27/page/n65/mode/1up Review by Carolyn Clay] in ''The Boston Phoenix'' (7 July 1981) * ''Other Women'' - briefly noted in ''[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)'' 60/49 (21 January 1985): 94 ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.lisaalther.com/ Lisa Alther Official Home Page] *[http://www.artvt.com/writers/alther/p_altherbio.htm An Autobiographical Essay] *[http://www.artvt.com/writers/alther/p_altherintrws.htm An Interview with Lisa Alther] *[http://www.lisaalther.com/essay3.html Essay on Lisa Alther] *[http://www.lisaalther.com/guide.html A Reader's Guide to the Fiction of Lisa Alther] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZSUxajTq-0 Video Interview] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Alther, Lisa}} Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:People from Kingsport, Tennessee Category:20th-century American novelists Category:American women short story writers Category:Wellesley College alumni Category:Appalachian writers Category:Novelists from Tennessee Category:People from Chittenden County, Vermont Category:20th-century American women novelists Category:21st-century American women writers Category:20th-century American short story writers Category:21st-century American short story writers Category:Writers from Tennessee Category:Radcliffe College alumni --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lisa Alther](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Alther) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Alther?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.