Janette Turner Hospital was born and educated in Australia.  She grew up on the steamy sub-tropical coast of the north-eastern state of Queensland and began her teaching career in remote tropical high schools.  She and her husband, also a Queenslander, moved to the USA in the late 60s for graduate school.  At the time, they had no intention of staying, but since then both Hospitals have taught in universities in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States.

Hospital’s first published short story appeared in the Atlantic Monthly (USA) and received an "Atlantic First" citation in 1978. Her first novel, The Ivory Swing (set in the village in South India where she and her husband spent a sabbatical in l977) won the $50,000 Seal First Novel Award in l982. Since then she has won a number of prizes for her nine novels and four short story collections, and her work has been published in 12 languages. Her novels have appeared in New York Times “Notable Books of the Year” lists, and she has won the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award and Australia’s Patrick White Award for lifetime literary achievement.  A recent short story, “Afterlife of a Stolen Child,” was included in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2015.

Janette Turner Hospital is Carolina Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of South Carolina and Adjunct Professor of English at the University of Queensland, Australia. She has been Visiting Writer in Residence at MIT, Boston University, Colgate, and Columbia. She spends parts of each year in South Carolina, New York, and Australia.

For more information, visit  www.janetteturnerhospital.com