Jane Hamilton is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

ist.

Hamilton lives in Rochester, Wisconsin

Rochester, Wisconsin

Rochester is a village in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,149 at the 2000 census. The village was located within the old Town of Rochester. On November 4, 2008, the village of Rochester voted to consolidate with the town of Rochester.-History:Chances, a restaurant/bar...

. She grew up in Oak Park, Illinois

Oak Park, Illinois

Oak Park, Illinois is a suburb bordering the west side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L' Blue and Green lines,...

, the youngest of five children. She graduated from Carleton College

Carleton College

Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...

 in 1979 as an English major. Her first published works were short stories, "My Own Earth" and "Aunt Marj's Happy Ending", both published in Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...

in 1983. "Aunt Marj's Happy Ending" later appeared in The Best American Short Stories 1984

Best American Short Stories

The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in contemporary American literature.-Edward O'Brien:The...

.

Her first novel, The Book of Ruth

The Book of Ruth (novel)

The Book of Ruth is a novel by Jane Hamilton. It won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for a best first novel in 1988 and was the Oprah's Book Club selection for November 1996.-Plot summary:...

, was published in 1988 and won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award

Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award

The Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award is awarded annually to a novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, which has been administered by the Hemingway...

, Great Lakes College Association New Writers Award, and the Wisconsin Library Association

Wisconsin Library Association

The Wisconsin Library Association , is a Wisconsin, United States non-profit,professional membership organization which has existed since 1891 --- more than 100 years of service to the library community and Wisconsin's citizens...

 Banta Book Award in 1989.http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/lac/banta/1989banta.htm The Book of Ruth was an Oprah's Book Club

Oprah's Book Club

Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new novel for viewers to read and discuss each month. The Club ended its 15-year run, along with...

 selection in 1996, and it was the basis for a 2004 television film of the same title.

In 1994, she published A Map of the World

A Map of the World

A Map of the World is a novel by Jane Hamilton. It was the Oprah's Book Club selection for December 1999. It was made into a movie released in 1999 starring Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, David Strathairn, Chloë Sevigny, Louise Fletcher and Marc Donato with a soundtrack by Pat Metheny.- Plot...

, which was adapted for a film in 1999 and, the same year, was also an Oprah's Book Club selection. Her third novel, The Short History of a Prince, published in 1998, was a Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...

Best Book of 1998.http://www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/presenters/author.php?author_id=7 This book was also shortlisted for the 1999 Orange Prize.http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/opf/archive.php4 In 2000, Hamilton was named a Notable Wisconsin Author by the Wisconsin Library Association.http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/readers/WLAC/Notable/Notable2000.htm

All of her books are set, at least in part, in Wisconsin. "A Map of the World" is set in Racine County, Wis. Of her writing, novelist Laura Moriarty

Laura Moriarty (novelist)

Laura Moriarty is an American novelist.-Life and work:Laura Moriarty was born in Honolulu in 1970. She earned a degree in social work before earning an M.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Kansas. She was the recipient of the George Bennett Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips...

 says: "I like Jane Hamilton for her compassionate portrayals of characters most people would ridicule, and the way her books show the beauty of rural life without romanticizing it."

In an interview with The Journal Times in Racine, Wis. in November 2006, Hamilton talked about her early inspiration for writing novels. As a student at Carleton College, she overheard a professor say she would write a novel one day. Hamilton had written only two short stories for the professor's class. Overhearing the conversation gave her confidence. "It had a lot more potency, the fact that I overheard it, rather than his telling me directly," she said.

Hamilton is an alum of the Ragdale Foundation

Ragdale

Ragdale is the summer retreat of Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, located in Lake Forest, Illinois. It is also the home of the Ragdale Foundation...

.

Works

• The Book of Ruth
  The Book of Ruth (novel)
  The Book of Ruth is a novel by Jane Hamilton. It won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for a best first novel in 1988 and was the Oprah's Book Club selection for November 1996.-Plot summary:...
  
  (1988)
• A Map of the World
  A Map of the World
  A Map of the World is a novel by Jane Hamilton. It was the Oprah's Book Club selection for December 1999. It was made into a movie released in 1999 starring Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, David Strathairn, Chloë Sevigny, Louise Fletcher and Marc Donato with a soundtrack by Pat Metheny.- Plot...
  
  (1994)
• The Short History of a Prince (1998)
• Disobedience (2000)
• When Madeline Was Young (2006)
• Laura Rider's Masterpiece (2009)

External links

• Jane Hamilton - Random House
  Random House
  Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
  
  author website
• "Jane Hamilton Video" - Author Jane Hamilton reads from her book, "When Madeline Was Young."