Alcyone

Anita Shreve, who also wrote under the name Alcyone, was an American novelist born in Boston in 1946. She grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts, and graduated from Tufts University. Shreve's career included teaching before she dedicated herself to writing. Her early literary success came with "Past the Island, Drifting," which received an O. Henry Prize in 1976.

Shreve's personal life, including her marriages and travels, significantly influenced her fiction. Her time in Kenya, where she worked for Viva Magazine and her husband was involved with the Harvard Institute for International Development, provided inspiration for several books, including "A Change in Altitude." Some of her novels were later adapted into films and a television movie, gaining her wider recognition. Anita Shreve passed away in March 2018.

Born Anita Hale Shreve in Boston on October 7, 1946, she was the eldest of three daughters. Her upbringing in Dedham, Massachusetts, provided an early backdrop to her life. Her father, Richard Harold Shreve, had a varied career as an airline pilot and a trompe l'oeil painter, while her mother, Bibiana Kennedy, managed the household. Shreve pursued higher education at Tufts University. Her experiences, including sailing on a sailboat named Alcyone with her second husband, Clay Wescott, and her time living and working in Kenya, later became woven into the fabric of her fictional narratives, lending a personal resonance to her storytelling.

Shreve's journey to becoming a published author was marked by persistence, with early rejections forming a significant part of her writing process. She taught at secondary schools before focusing on her writing career. Her first published story, "Past the Island, Drifting" (1975), earned her an O. Henry Prize in 1976. Later in her career, a pivotal moment arrived in 1999 when Oprah Winfrey selected "The Pilot's Wife" for her influential book club, significantly boosting Shreve's readership and sales worldwide. Several of her novels, including "The Weight of Water" and "Resistance," were adapted into films, further extending her reach.