Elizabeth Strout is an eighth-generation Mainer who was born in Portland and graduated from Bates College in 1977. She is well-known for her Maine-based, 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Olive Kitteridge,” which was made into an HBO miniseries starring Oscar winner Frances McDormand.
In 2015, the series took home eight Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Limited Series. Strout’s first book, “Amy and Isabelle,” published in 1999, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the PEN/Faulkner award. In 2001, it was made into an ABC television movie starring Elisabeth Shue, and produced by Harpo Films, Oprah Winfrey’s production company. Her more recent works, “The Burgess Boys,” released in 2013, and “My Name is Lucy Barton,” released in January, have been both critical and commercial successes.
Strout still maintains deep ties to the state of her birth. In 2010 she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Bates. She splits her time between her home in Maine and New York City, where her husband, former Maine Attorney General James Tierney, teaches at Columbia Law School. For more information, visit www. elizabethstrout.com.
