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Joyce Carol Oates (born 1938) is an American writer whose prolific output spans novels, short stories, plays, poetry, and nonfiction, often exploring violence, evil, and self-destruction in modern society. Notable works include the National Book Award-winning novel them (1969), Pulitzer finalists Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), Blonde (2000), and Lovely, Dark, Deep (2014), alongside major awards such as the National Humanities Medal and Jerusalem Prize. She taught at Princeton University for decades and continues to publish actively.