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Elizabeth Strout Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout Biography

Elizabeth Strout was born in Portland, Maine, and grew up in small towns in Maine and New Hampshire. From a young age she was drawn to writing things down, keeping notebooks that recorded the quotidian details of her days. She was also drawn to books, and spent hours of her youth in the local library lingering among the stacks of fiction. During the summer months of her childhood she played outdoors, either with her brother, or, more often, alone, and this is where she developed her deep and abiding love of the physical world: the seaweed covered rocks along the coast of Maine, and the woods of New Hampshire with its hidden wildflowers.

During her adolescent years, Strout continued writing avidly, having conceived of herself as a writer from early on. She read biographies of writers, and was already studying – on her own – the way American writers, in particular, told their stories. Poetry was something she read and memorized; by the age of sixteen was sending out stories to magazines. Her first story was published when she was twenty-six.

Strout attended Bates College, graduating with a degree in English in 1977. Two years later, she went to Syracuse University College of Law, where she received a law degree along with a Certificate in Gerontology. She worked briefly for Legal Services, before moving to New York City, where she became an adjunct in the English Department of Borough of Manhattan Community College. By this time she was publishing more stories in literary magazines and Redbook and Seventeen. Juggling the needs that came with raising a family and her teaching schedule, she found a few hours each day to work on her writing.

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Elizabeth Strout's website

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Interview

Random House Reader's Circle sat down with Olive Kitteridge and Elizabeth Strout in a doughnut shop in Olive's hometown of Crosby, Maine.

Thank you both for meeting with us. This is such a treat.

Olive Kitteridge: Well, it’s strange, I’ll say that.

Elizabeth Strout: It’s lovely to be here, thank you.

Ms. Strout, our first question is for you. Which characters were the easiest for you to write?

ES: The easiest character to write about was Olive herself. She is so vibrant, so powerful in her desires and opinions, she came to me fully formed and with little trouble. Whenever she walked through a door, took a ride in her car, or walked along the river, I felt lucky to follow her.

Harmon, the hardware store owner, was also easily available to me, though in a very different way. His quiet sadness helped me see him, made me feel for his situation. Louise Larkin came to me clearly, as did Jack Kennison, and Angela O’Meara. And the steadfast Henry, of course.

OK: Wait, you were following me? I knew it. I don’t know why you felt so compelled to write about me. There are far more interesting people in Crosby to talk about.

ES: I did talk about them, Olive. But the truth is, you are the most fascinating to me. You are ferocious and complicated and kindly and sometimes cruel. In essence, you are a little bit of each of us.

That is ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Elizabeth Strout at BookBrowse
Tell Me Everything jacket Lucy by the Sea jacket Oh William! jacket Olive, Again jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Elizabeth Strout but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Ellen   Cooney

    Ellen Cooney

    Ellen Cooney is the author of nine previous novels, including The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances. Her stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Ontario Review, New England Review, and many other journals,... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Olive Kitteridge

    Try:
    One Night Two Souls Went Walking
    by Ellen Cooney

  • Lauren Acampora

    Lauren Acampora

    Lauren Acampora's fiction has appeared in the Paris Review, Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, New England Review, and Antioch Review. Raised in Connecticut, she now lives in Westchester County, New York, with her husband, ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    My Name Is Lucy Barton

    Try:
    The Wonder Garden
    by Lauren Acampora

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