Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout was born on January 6, 1956, in Portland, Maine, and raised in small towns in Maine and New Hampshire. She graduated from Bates College and earned a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law in 1982. After briefly practising law, she pursued writing, moving to New York City, where she waitressed while publishing stories. Her debut novel Amy and Isabelle (1998) was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. Strout rose to prominence with Olive Kitteridge (2008), a collection of linked stories set in coastal Maine that won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was later adapted into an Emmy-winning miniseries. Her subsequent Lucy Barton series—including My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016), Anything Is Possible (2017), Oh William! (2021), and Tell Me Everything (2024)—solidified her reputation. Her work explores the quiet complexities of loneliness, resilience, and human connection in small-town New England.