Abigail Thomas (born 1941) is an American novelist, poet, and memoirist.
Early life
editBorn in Boston in 1941, Abigail Thomas is the daughter of Lewis Thomas, an essayist, poet, physician and scientist, and Beryl Dawson. Thomas is one of three sisters.[1] The family moved at two-year intervals to follow Dr. Thomas's career, which led to Thomas attending 11 schools by the 10th grade.
Thomas married at 18 and became pregnant, resulting in her expulsion from Bryn Mawr College in 1959, when she was told by the dean that "her education was obviously over." Thomas had three children by the age of 23. Thomas worked as a secretary and a real estate agent. Eight years into her first marriage, she and her children moved in with her parents in New York. Thomas's second husband was a physicist, with whom she had one child. An accidental injury to her husband resulted in his increasing mental disability, and they divorced in 1977.[2] Thomas became a literary agent at Viking Press, working in that capacity until 1992.[3]
Author
editAlthough she had written poetry before, Thomas did not seriously write prose until the age of 48. Her short stories have been published in magazines, including The Missouri Review, Columbia (Columbia University), Paris Review,O, The Oprah Magazine, and Glimmer Train. Newspapers, including the New York Times and the Washington Post have published essays by Thomas.[3] Her early books were written for children. Later books by Thomas focus on accounts of and observations on her life and those around her, with reviewers noting her focus on memoir in a series of vignettes. Safekeeping describes events from her life, including the accident and subsequent disability that befell her husband, and her meditations on those events.[2] A Three Dog Life examines their life together in greater detail.[4]
Thomas's awards include the William Peden Prize for fiction.[5] Her book A Three Dog Life was chosen by both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times as one of the best books of 2006.[6] She has taught writing at New School University and Queens University.
Personal life
editThomas married her third husband, Richard Rogin in 1988.
Daughter Catherine Luttinger is an author.
Thomas lives in Woodstock, New York.[7]
Works
editChildren's books
edit- Wake Up, Wilson Street (1993)
- Pearl Paints (1994)
- Lily (1994)
Short story collections and books
edit- Getting Over Tom: Stories (1994)
- An Actual Life (1996, novel)
- Herb's Pajamas (1998, short story collection)[8]
- Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life (2000, memoir)
- Thinking About Memoir
- A Three Dog Life (2006, memoir)
- What Comes Next and How to Like It (2015, memoir)[9]
- Still Life at Eighty (2023, memoir)
References
edit- ^ Berger, Marilyn (December 4, 1993). "Lewis Thomas, Whose Essays Clarified the Mysteries of Biology, Is Dead at 80". New York Times. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- ^ a b "Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life". Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ a b Maran, Meredith (May 9, 2019). "Review:What Comes Next and How to Like It". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ Lyden, Jack (November 11, 2006). "Author Thomas, Living a 'Three Dog Life'". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
- ^ "Abigail Thomas". The Missouri Review. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ "An Interview with Abigail Thomas". American Literary Review. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ Raimondo, Lois (April 18, 1993). "A Writer Comes to Terms With Herself". New York Times. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ Miner, Valerie (1999). "Neighborhood Watcher; Rev. of Herb's Pajamas by Abigail Thomas". The Women's Review of Books. 16 (5): 9.
- ^ Powers, Katherine A. (April 3, 2015). "'What Comes Next and How to Like It,' by Abigail Thomas". New York Times. Retrieved 6 August 2024.