Ann Patchett, born in 1963 in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, always knew she wanted to be a writer. While attending Sarah Lawrence College, she had her first story published in The Paris Review; after graduating, she attended the renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop and earned an MFA from the University of Iowa. Patchett spent years writing for various publications before publishing her debut novel The Patron Saint of Liars (1992), which she worked on during a fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Massachusetts.

It was Patchett’s fourth novel, Bel Canto (2001), that broke through, garnering critical acclaim and several awards including the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. She went on to win many more awards, including being honored by the White House with a National Humanities Medal in 2021. Patchett’s novels, including the bestselling Tom Lake (2023), are known for their ethereal escapism and psychological depth. As in her fiction, her nonfiction work, such as Truth & Beauty: A Friendship, her memoir about her friendship with writer Lucy Grealy, and the essay collection This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage (2013), is defined by warmth, sincerity, and a tender insight into human relationships. Patchett is also the owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, where she champions the importance of independent bookstores.