Anna Quindlen - Life and Career

Life and Career

Quindlen left journalism in 1995 to become a full-time novelist. In 1999, she joined Newsweek, writing a bi-weekly column until announcing her semi-retirement in the May 18, 2009 issue of the magazine. Quindlen is known as a critic of what she perceives to be the fast-paced and increasingly materialistic nature of modern American life. Much of her personal writing centers on her mother who died at the age of 40 from ovarian cancer, when Quindlen was 19 years old.

She has written five best-selling novels, three of which have been made into movies. One True Thing was made into a feature film in 1998 for which Meryl Streep received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Black and Blue and Blessings were made into television movies in 1999 and 2003 respectively.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to an Irish father and an Italian mother, Quindlen graduated in 1970 from South Brunswick High School in South Brunswick, New Jersey.

Quindlen graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University in 1974; she now serves on its Board of Trustees. She is also on the Council of the Authors Guild and the Board of St. Luke's School in New York. Quindlen is married to Gerald Krovatin, an attorney; they have three children. She lives with her family in New York City.