Barbara Ellen Kingsolver collection

Barbara Kingsolver was born April 8, 1955, to Wendell Roy Kingsolver, a physician, and Virginia Lee. She was born in Maryland, grew up in Appalachia, and maintains that her upbringing shaped her literary voice and commitment to storytelling that bridges personal and ecological themes.

Kingsolver graduated from DePauw University in 1977 with a degree in biology. In 1981, she graduated from the University of Arizona with a master’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology. She then worked at the university and started her full-time career in writing, including many cover stories for the local alternative weekly newspaper. She married her first husband, Joe Hoffman, in 1985 and divorced seven years later. Kingsolver had her first daughter, Camille, in 1987. She married her second husband, Steven Hopp, in 1994 and had her second daughter, Lily, in 1996.

Kingsolver’s first novel, The Bean Trees, was published in 1988. Since then, she has written over thirty books. Kingsolver’s works, often centered on issues like environmental sustainability, social justice, and human interconnectedness, aim to educate while entertaining. Her most popular book is The Poisonwood Bible; it was selected for Oprah’s book club in 1999, which brought it more recognition. The book was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize in fiction. In 2023, Kingsolver won a Pulitzer prize in fiction for Demon Copperhead, a rural Appalachian adaptation of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield. Her nonfiction book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (2007), co-authored with her husband and daughter, documents her family’s year-long experiment in eating locally sourced food.

Kingsolver’s commitment to activism is integral to her identity. This dedication is evident not only in her literary works but also in her efforts to effect social and environmental change.

Sources:

Barbara Kingsolver personal website. “Barbara Reveals Herself,” n.d.

Barbara Kingsolver. The Bean Trees. New York: Harper and Row, 1988. Crystal Wilkinson. 2014. “Barbara Kingsolver.” Appalachian Heritage 42 (4): 41.

DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana. The Mirage, 1977, 96.

Indianapolis Star (1923-). "April 22, 2004 (Page 16 of 164)." Apr 22, 2004, p. 16.

Karen Ya-Chu Yang. 2021. “Female Biologists and the Practice of Dialogical Connectivity in Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer.” Journal of Modern Literature 45 (1): 78.

Sarah Lyall. “At Lunch with: Barbara Kingsolver; Termites Are Interesting but Books Sell Better.” The New York Times, September 1, 1993.

This biographical note was created by Alexis Kammerling and Sofia Piazzisi as part of the HIST278: Women's History from 1890-Present course during the fall 2024 semester. It was revised by Professor Sarah Rowley and the Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections Bethany Fiechter.