Gail Godwin

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Gail Godwin (born June 18, 1937) is 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 Hill (UNC). After graduating, she worked briefly as a reporter for ''The Miami Herald'', then traveled to Europe and worked for the U.S. Travel Service run by the U.S. Embassy in London. She returned to the U.S. after six years. Godwin taught English at the University of Iowa, while earning her M.A. (1968) and Ph.D. (1971) 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 Daughters'' (1982) and ''A Southern Family'' (1987), resulted in further acclaim and expanded the readership of her books. Following ''The Finishing School'' (1984), readership of her books dramatically declined until 2006, when ''Queen of the Underworld'' was published. ''Flora'' (2013) became one of her more commercially successful novels.