Tracy Chevalier Biography
"I was born and grew up in Washington, DC. After getting a BA in
English from Oberlin College (Ohio), I moved to London, England in 1984. I
intended to stay 6 months; I'm still here.
"As a kid I'd often said I wanted to be a writer because I loved
books and wanted to be associated with them. I wrote the odd story in high
school, but it was only in my twenties that I started writing ‘real'
stories, at night and on weekends. Sometimes I wrote a story in a couple
evenings; other times it took me a whole year to complete one.
"Once I took a night class in creative writing, and a story I'd
written for it was published in a London-based magazine called Fiction. I
was thrilled, even though the magazine folded 4 months later.
I worked as a reference book editor for several years until 1993 when I
left my job and did a year-long MA in creative writing at the University of
East Anglia in Norwich (England). My tutors were the English novelists
Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. For the first time in my life I was
expected to write every day, and I found liked it. I also finally had an
idea I considered ‘big' enough to fill a novel. I began The Virgin
Blue during that year, and continued it once the course was over,
juggling writing with freelance editing.
"An agent is essential to getting published. I found my agent Jonny
Geller through dumb luck and good timing. A friend from the MA course had
just signed on with him and I sent my manuscript of The Virgin Blue
mentioning my friend's name. Jonny was just starting as an agent and
needed me as much as I needed him. Since then he's become a highly
respected agent in the UK and I've gone along for the ride."
This biography was last updated on 01/02/2010.
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