View source for Barbara Kingsolver

{{Short description|American author, poet, and essayist (born 1955)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Barbara Kingsolver
| image            = Barbara Kingsolver (48684513758) (cropped).jpg
| caption          = Kingsolver at the 2019 [[National Book Festival]]
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1955|04|08|mf=yes}}
| birth_place      = [[Annapolis, Maryland]],<br />U.S.
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| occupation       = {{flatlist|
* Novelist
* poet
* [[essayist]]}}
| period           = 1988–present
| genre            = Historical fiction
| subject          = Social justice, feminism, environmentalism
| notableworks     = {{Bulleted list|''[[The Poisonwood Bible]]''|''[[Animal, Vegetable, Miracle]]''|''[[Flight Behavior]]''|''[[Demon Copperhead]]''}}
| education        = {{plainlist|
*[[DePauw University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
*[[University of Arizona]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])}}
| spouse           = {{Unbulleted list|Joseph Hoffmann (1985–1992)|Steven Lee Hopp (1994–present)}}
| children         = 2
| relatives        = Wendell Roy Kingsolver (father), Virginia Lee (née Henry) Kingsolver (mother)
| website          = {{URL|www.kingsolver.com}}
| birth_name       = Barbara Ellen Kingsolver
}}
'''Barbara Ellen Kingsolver''' (born April 8, 1955) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, essayist, and poet. Her widely known works include ''[[The Poisonwood Bible]]'', the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and ''[[Animal, Vegetable, Miracle]]'', a nonfiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally. In 2023, she was awarded the [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]] for the novel ''[[Demon Copperhead]]''.<ref name="Pulitzer">{{cite web|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year|title=2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists|website=The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org)|access-date=4 July 2023}}</ref><ref name="Grdn2024"/> Her work often focuses on topics such as [[social justice]], [[biodiversity]], and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments.

Kingsolver has received numerous awards, including the [[Dayton Literary Peace Prize]]'s Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award in 2011 and the [[National Humanities Medal]]. After winning for ''[[The Lacuna]]'' in 2010 and ''Demon Copperhead'' in 2023, Kingsolver became the first author to win the [[Women's Prize for Fiction]] twice.<ref>{{cite news|last=Shaffi|first=Sarah|date=April 26, 2023|title=Three debut novels compete among Women's prize for fiction shortlist|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/26/womens-prize-for-fiction-shortlist|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=May 24, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Shaffi-2022">{{Cite web |last=Shaffi |first=Sarah |date=2022-06-14 |title=Barbara Kingsolver wins the Women's prize for fiction for second time |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/14/barbara-kingsolver-wins-the-womens-prize-for-fiction-for-second-time |access-date=2022-06-14 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>  Since 1993, each one of her book titles have been on the [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' Best Seller list]].<ref name="Inside List">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/books/review/InsideList-t.html |title=Inside the List |work=[[The New York Times]]|date= November 13, 2009|access-date=May 3, 2010 | first=Jennifer | last=Schuessler}}</ref>

Kingsolver was raised in rural [[Kentucky]], lived briefly in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]] in her early childhood, and currently lives in [[Virginia]], in the [[Appalachia]] region.<ref name="Grdn2024">{{cite news |last1=Cooke |first1=Rachel |title='I've dealt with anti-hillbilly bigotry all my life': Barbara Kingsolver on JD Vance, the real Appalachia and why Demon Copperhead was such a hit: Interview |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/06/barbara-kingsolver-demon-copperhead-jd-vance-holding-the-line |access-date=7 October 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=6 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Barbara Kingsolver | url=https://www.shepherd.edu/ahwirweb/kingsolver/#:~:text=Today%2C%20Kingsolver%20lives%20with%20her,Read%20Author%20for%20the%20State }}</ref> Kingsolver earned degrees in biology, [[ecology]], and [[evolutionary biology]] at [[DePauw University]] and the [[University of Arizona]], and worked as a freelance writer before she began writing novels. In 2000, the politically [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] Kingsolver established the [[Bellwether Prize]] to support "literature of social change".

==Biography==
Kingsolver was born in 1955 in [[Annapolis, Maryland]], the daughter of Wendell Roy Kingsolver and Virginia Lee (née Henry) Kingsolver, but grew up in [[Carlisle, Kentucky]].<ref name="Novel as Indictment"/><ref name="At Lunch">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/01/garden/at-lunch-with-barbara-kingsolver-termites-are-interesting-but-books-sell-better.html?pagewanted=2|title=At Lunch With Barbara Kingsolver|last=Lyall|first=Sarah|format=interview|work=The New York Times|date=September 1, 1993|access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref> When Kingsolver was seven, her father, a physician, took the family to [[Kinshasa|Léopoldville]], [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Congo]] (now [[Kinshasa]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]).<ref name="Novel as Indictment">{{Citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/11/magazine/the-novel-as-indictment.html?scp=4&sq=Poisonwood%20Bible&st=cse|title=The Novel as Indictment|last=Kerr|first=Sarah| work=The New York Times|date=October 11, 1988|access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Ellen|last=Kanner|title=Barbara Kingsolver turns to her past to understand the present|date=November 1998|url=http://www.bookpage.com/books-5367-The+Poisonwood+Bible|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721120202/http://www.bookpage.com/books-5367-The+Poisonwood+Bible|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-21|access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref>

After graduating from high school, Kingsolver attended [[DePauw University]] in [[Greencastle, Indiana]], on a music scholarship, studying classical piano. She changed her major to biology after realizing that "classical pianists compete for six job openings a year, and the rest of [them] get to play <nowiki>'</nowiki>[[Blue Moon (1934 song)|Blue Moon]]<nowiki>'</nowiki> in a hotel lobby".<ref name="At Lunch"/><ref name="Grdn2024"/>

Kingsolver was involved in activism on her campus, and took part in protests against the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name="Novel as Indictment" /> In 1977, Kingsolver graduated [[Phi Beta Kappa]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Snodgrass|first1=Mary Ellen|title=Barbara Kingsolver: A Literary Companion|date=2004|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476611174|page=13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAsyBgAAQBAJ&q=Barbara+Kingsolver+phi+beta+kappa&pg=PA13|language=en}}</ref> with a [[Bachelor of Science]], and moved to [[France]] for a year.  In 1980, she enrolled in graduate school at the [[University of Arizona]],<ref name="At Lunch" /> where she earned a [[master's degree]] in [[ecology]] and [[evolutionary biology]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.st-charles.lib.il.us/readers_service/bios/kingsolver.htm |title=Barbara Kingsolver profile |work=St Charles Public Library |date=February 2010 |access-date=May 18, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615125302/http://www.st-charles.lib.il.us/readers_service/bios/kingsolver.htm |archive-date=June 15, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Listen Here">{{cite book|title=Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia|last=Ballard|first=Sandra L.|year= 2003 |publisher= The University Press of Kentucky |location=Kentucky |isbn= 978-0-8131-9066-2|pages=330–31|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i090MbNYlIYC&pg=PA330|access-date=May 25, 2010}}</ref>

In 1985, Kingsolver married Joseph Hoffmann, and gave birth to their daughter Camille in 1987.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/kingsolver-barbara|title=Barbara Kingsolver|work= eNotes|access-date=May 18, 2010}}</ref><ref name="official site">{{cite web|url=http://www.kingsolver.com/biography|title=Barbara Kingsolver Brief Biography|format=Biography|work=Barbara Kingsolver's official website|access-date=2010-05-12|archive-date=2010-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100714171744/http://www.kingsolver.com/biography/|url-status=dead}}</ref>  During the first [[Gulf War|First Gulf War]], she moved with her daughter to [[Tenerife]] in the [[Canary Islands]] for a year, mostly due to her frustration over America's military involvement.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/6606679/Barbara-Kingsolver-Interview.html|title=Barbara Kingsolver: Interview|last=Leonard|first=Tom|format=Interview|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=November 20, 2009|access-date=May 12, 2010|location=London, UK|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100618214901/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/6606679/Barbara-Kingsolver-Interview.html|archive-date=June 18, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> After returning to the United States in 1992, she separated from her husband.<ref name="official site" />

In 1994, Kingsolver was awarded an honorary [[Doctor of Letters|Doctorate of Letters]] from her alma mater, DePauw University.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.depauw.edu/news/?id=25211|title=Barbara Kingsolver '77 is Finalist for Britain's Orange Prize|work=DePauw University News|date=April 20, 2010|access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref> That same year, she married Steven Lee Hopp, an [[ornithologist]], and their daughter Lily was born in 1996. In 2004, Kingsolver moved with her family to a farm in [[Washington County, Virginia]].<ref name="Novel as Indictment" /> In 2008, she received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from [[Duke University]], where she delivered a commencement address entitled "How to Be Hopeful".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2008/05/kingsolver.html|title=How to be Hopeful|last=Kingsolver|first=Barbara|format=Speech|publisher=[[Duke University]]|date=May 11, 2008|access-date=May 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100511142111/http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2008/05/kingsolver.html|archive-date=May 11, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the late 1990s, Kingsolver was a founding member of the [[Rock Bottom Remainders]], a rock-and-roll band made up of published writers. Other band members included [[Amy Tan]], [[Matt Groening]], [[Dave Barry]], and [[Stephen King]], and they played for one week during the year. Kingsolver played the keyboard, but is no longer an active member of the band.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.rockbottomremainders.com/pages/history.html| title=History of the Rock Bottom Remainders|format=website|access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref>

In a 2010 interview with ''[[The Guardian]]'', Kingsolver said, "I never wanted to be famous, and still don't… the universe rewarded me with what I dreaded most". She said she created her own website just to compete with a plethora of fake ones "as a defense to protect my family from misinformation".<ref>{{cite web |work=The Guardian|location=UK|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/12/life-in-writing-barbara-kingsolver|title=Guardian interview: A life in writing: Barbara Kingsolver|date=June 12, 2010}}</ref>

Kingsolver lives in the [[Appalachia]] area of the United States. She said in 2020 that rural America is generally regarded by artistic elites with "a profound antipathy".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Marriott|first=James|title=Barbara Kingsolver interview: The Poisonwood Bible author talks about how her mother's death allowed her to write about family|newspaper=[[The Times]] |language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/barbara-kingsolver-interview-the-poisonwood-bible-author-talks-about-how-her-mothers-death-allowed-her-to-write-about-family-8fhj38kz0|access-date=2020-09-14|issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

==Writing career==
[[File:Barbara Kingsolver speaking at BookExpo 2018.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Kingsolver speaking at BookExpo 2018|Kingsolver speaking at [[BookExpo America]] in 2018]]<!-- On the left so Kingsolver is facing the text per [[MOS:PORTRAIT]] -->
Kingsolver began her full-time writing career in the mid-1980s as a science writer for the University of Arizona, which eventually led to freelance feature writing, including many cover stories for the local alternative weekly, the ''[[Tucson Weekly]]''.<ref name="At Lunch" /><ref name="Listen Here" /> She began her career in fiction writing after winning a short-story contest in a local Phoenix newspaper.<ref name="At Lunch" />

Kingsolver's first novel, ''[[The Bean Trees]]'', was published in 1988, and told the story of a young woman who leaves Kentucky for Arizona, adopting an abandoned child along the way; she wrote it at night while pregnant with her first child and struggling with [[insomnia]].<ref name="Listen Here" /> Her next work of fiction, published in 1990, was ''Homeland and Other Stories'', a collection of short stories on a variety of topics exploring various themes from the evolution of cultural and ancestral lands to the struggles of marriage.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/18/specials/kingsolver-homeland.html?scp=19&sq=barbara%20kingsolver&st=cse|title=Distant as a Cherokee Childhood|last=Banks|first=Russell|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=1989-06-11|access-date=2010-05-18}}</ref>

The novel ''[[Animal Dreams]]'' was also published in 1990,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/18/specials/kingsolver-animal.html?scp=23&sq=barbara%20kingsolver&st=cse|title=In One Small Town, the Weight of the World|last=Smiley|first=Jane |work=The New York Times|date= 1990-09-02|access-date=2010-05-18}}</ref> followed by ''[[Pigs in Heaven]]'', the sequel to ''The Bean Trees'', in 1993.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/27/books/and-baby-makes-two.html?scp=45&sq=barbara%20kingsolver&st=cse|title=And Baby Makes Two|last=Karbo|first=Karen|format=Book review|work= The New York Times|date=1993-06-27|access-date=2010-05-18}}</ref> Every book that Kingsolver has written since ''Pigs in Heaven'' has been on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.<ref name="Inside List" />

''[[The Poisonwood Bible]]'', published in 1998, is one of her best-known works; it chronicles the lives of the wife and daughters of a Baptist missionary on a Christian mission in Africa.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/18/reviews/981018.18klinket.html |title=Going Native |last= Klinkenborg |first= Verlyn|work= The New York Times |date=October 16, 1998|access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref> Although the setting of the novel is somewhat similar to Kingsolver's own childhood in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Democratic Republic of Congo]] (then [[Zaire]]), the novel is not autobiographical.<ref name="Novel as Indictment" /> The novel was chosen as an [[Oprah's Book Club]] selection.<ref>{{cite web |title=Barbara Kingsolver author biography |url=http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Barbara-Kingsolver-author-biography |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603022916/http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Barbara-Kingsolver-author-biography |archive-date=June 3, 2010 |access-date=May 3, 2010 |work=Oprah.com}}</ref> ''The Poisonwood Bible'' won the National Book Prize of South Africa and was shortlisted for both the [[Pulitzer Prize]] and [[PEN/Faulkner Award]].<ref name="awards">{{cite web |title=Awards & Honors &#124; Barbara Kingsolver |url=http://www.kingsolver.com/awards-and-honors |access-date=2010-05-12 |work=Official Site |format=Awards & Honors List}}</ref>

Her next novel, published in 2000, was ''[[Prodigal Summer]]'', set in southern Appalachia.<ref name="Men, Women and Coyotes">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/11/05/reviews/001105.05schuest.html?scp=1&sq=barbara%20kingsolver%20AND%20prodigal%20summer&st=cse|title=Men, Women and Coyotes|last=Schuessler|first=Jennifer|format= Book review|work=The New York Times|date=November 5, 2000|access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref> In 2000, she was awarded the [[National Humanities Medal]] by the U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]].<ref name="About">{{cite web |last=Harper Collins |title=About the Author, Barbara Kingsolver |url=http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/About.aspx?authorid=5311 |access-date=2010-05-02 |archive-date=2010-02-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100205002224/http://harpercollins.com/author/microsite/about.aspx?authorid=5311 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Kingsolver wrote a ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' opinion piece following the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan in the wake of the [[September 11 attacks]], which received widespread criticism for conflating innocent Afghans with the Taliban regime. She wrote, "I feel like I'm standing on a playground where the little boys are all screaming at each other, 'He started it!' and throwing rocks that keep taking out another eye, another tooth. I keep looking around for somebody's mother to come on the scene saying, 'Boys! Boys! Who started it cannot possibly be the issue here. People are getting hurt.{{'"}}<ref>{{Citation |last=Barbara |first=Kingsolver |title=No Glory in Unjust War on the Weak |date=October 14, 2001 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-oct-14-op-57057-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |page=2 |access-date=June 10, 2016}}.</ref> By some accounts, she was "denounced as a traitor," but rebounded from these accusations and later wrote about them.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 8, 2009 |title=How Barbara Kingsolver recovered from a 9/11 backlash |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/book-features/how-barbara-kingsolver-recovered-from-a-9-11-backlash-1.931075 |access-date=June 19, 2016 |website=Herald Scotland}}</ref>

Starting in April 2005, Kingsolver and her family spent a year making every effort to eat food produced as locally as possible.<ref name="Good for You" /> Living on their farm in rural Virginia, they grew much of their own food and obtained most of the rest from their neighbors and other local farmers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=9891473|title=Back to Basics: Kingsolver Clan Lives off Land: NPR|last=Neary|first=Lynn|work=National Public Radio|date=April 29, 2007|access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref> Kingsolver, her husband, and her elder daughter chronicled their experiences of that year in the book ''[[Animal, Vegetable, Miracle|Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life]]'', published in 2007. Although exceptions were made for staple ingredients not available locally, such as coffee and [[olive oil]], the family grew vegetables, raised livestock, made cheese, and preserved much of their harvest.<ref name="Good for You" /><ref>{{cite book|title=Animal, Vegetable, Miracle|url=https://archive.org/details/animalvegetablem00king|url-access=registration|last=Kingsolver|first=Barbara|author2=Hopp, Steven|author3=Kingsolver, Camille|year=2006|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780060852559}}</ref> ''Animal, Vegetable, Miracle'' won the 2008 [[James Beard Foundation Award]].

Kingsolver returned to novel-writing with ''[[The Lacuna]]'', published in 2009. Kingsolver received her first [[Women's Prize for Fiction]] for the novel in 2010.<ref name="Shaffi-2022" /> ''The Lacuna'' won the 2010 [[Orange Prize for Fiction]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Mark |title=Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna beats Wolf Hall to Orange prize |work=The Guardian |location=London, UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/09/orange-prize-barbara-kingsolver |url-status=live |access-date=June 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612090903/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/09/orange-prize-barbara-kingsolver |archive-date=12 June 2010}}</ref> ''[[Flight Behavior]]'' was published in 2012. It explores environmental themes and highlights the potential effects of global warming on the [[monarch butterfly]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/books/barbara-kingsolvers-flight-behavior.html|title=A Visitation of Butterflies to a Town and a Life|last=Lipman|first=Elinor|date=November 19, 2012|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 5, 2019|pages=6}}</ref>

In 2011, Kingsolver was the first ever recipient of the [[Dayton Literary Peace Prize]] Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. The newly named award to celebrate the U.S. diplomat who played an instrumental role in negotiating the [[Dayton Peace Accords]] in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About the Awards – Dayton Literary Peace Prize |url=https://www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/about-the-awards/ |access-date=2022-03-29 |language=en}}</ref> In 2014, Kingsolver was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the [[Library of Virginia]].  The award recognizes outstanding and long-lasting contributions to literature by a Virginian.<ref name="VA Literary Awards">{{cite web|title=Annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards|url=http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/litawards/|publisher=Library of Virginia|access-date=March 10, 2014}}</ref> In 2018 the Library of Virginia named her one of the [[Virginia Women in History]].<ref name="Women in History">{{cite web|url=https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/vawomen/2018/honoree.htm?bio=Kingsolver|title=Virginia Women in History 2018 Barbara Kingsolver|website=www.lva.virginia.gov|date=30 June 2016 |access-date=15 March 2018}}</ref>

''[[Unsheltered]]'' was published in 2018 and follows two families in [[Vineland, New Jersey]] with one in the 1800s and the other in the aftermath of [[Hurricane Sandy]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zongker |first=Brett |date=2019-05-09 |title=U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Join Leading Authors at 2019 National Book Festival {{!}} National Book Festival |url=https://blogs.loc.gov/national-book-festival/2019/05/u-s-supreme-court-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-to-join-leading-authors-at-2019-national-book-festival/ |access-date=2024-12-25 |website=The Library of Congress}}</ref> Her latest book, published in 2022, is ''[[Demon Copperhead]]''. The novel was inspired by ''[[David Copperfield]]'' and is set in southern Appalachia, dealing with the effects of the [[Opioid epidemic|opioid crisis]] on the region's families.<ref name="Grdn2024"/> In 2023, ''[[Demon Copperhead]]'' received the 2023 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]] alongside [[Hernan Diaz (writer)|Hernan Diaz]]'s ''Trust'', the first time the award was shared in its history.

Kingsolver is also a published poet and essayist. Two of her essay collections, ''[[High Tide in Tucson]]'' (1995) and ''[[Small Wonder (essays)|Small Wonder]]'' (2003), have been published, and an anthology of her poetry was published in 1998 under the title ''Another America''. Her essay "Where to Begin" appears in the anthology ''Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting ''(2013), published by [[W. W. Norton & Company]]. Her prose poetry also accompanied photographs by [[Annie Griffiths Belt]] in a 2002 work titled ''Last Stand: America's Virgin Lands''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1025_021029_LastStand.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021101122255/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1025_021029_LastStand.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 1, 2002 |title=New Photo Book an Homage to Last U.S. Wildlands |last= Parsell|first= T.L.|work= National Geographic News|date=October 29, 2002 |access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref>

Her major nonfiction works include her 1990 publication ''Holding the Line: Women in the [[Arizona Copper Mine Strike of 1983|Great Arizona Mine Strike]] of 1983''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/18/specials/kingsolver-holding.html?scp=61&sq=barbara%20kingsolver&st=cse|title=Both Sides Lost|last=Stegner|first=Page|work=The New York Times|date=January 7, 1990|access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Grdn2024"/> and 2007's ''[[Animal, Vegetable, Miracle]]'', a description of [[local food|eating locally]].<ref name="Good for You">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/books/11book.html?scp=17&sq=barbara%20kingsolver&st=cse|title=Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life|last=Maslin|first=Janet|work=The New York Times|date=May 11, 2007|access-date=May 18, 2010}}</ref> She has also been published as a science journalist in periodicals such as ''[[Economic Botany]]'' on topics such as desert plants and bioresources.<ref name="At Lunch"/><ref name="bibliography">{{cite web|url=http://www.kingsolver.com/bibliography|title=Bibliography|format=Bibliography|work=Official Website|access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref>

==Bellwether Prize==
In 2000, Kingsolver established the [[Bellwether Prize|Bellwether Prize for Fiction]]. Named for the [[Bellwether (politics)|bellwether]], the literary prize supports writers whose works support positive social change.<ref name="Novel as Indictment" /> The award is given to a U.S. citizen for a previously unpublished work of fiction that addresses issues of social justice. The Bellwether Prize is awarded in even-numbered years and includes guaranteed major publication and a cash prize of US$25,000, fully funded by Kingsolver.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bellwetherprize.org/info.html|title=Bellwether Prize Information|work=Bellwether Prize Official Site|access-date=May 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505052223/http://www.bellwetherprize.org/info.html|archive-date=May 5, 2010|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> She has stated that she wanted to create a literary prize to "encourage writers, publishers, and readers to consider how fiction engages visions of social change and human justice".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kingsolver.com/faq/about-writing.html#11|title=Frequently Asked Questions|work=Official site|access-date=May 3, 2010|archive-date=November 1, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101101055934/http://kingsolver.com/faq/about-writing.html#11|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In May 2011, the [[PEN American Center]] announced it would take over administration of the prize, to be known as the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.<ref>{{cite web|title=American PEN Centre |url=http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/6004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006000932/http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/6004 |archive-date=2012-10-06 }}</ref>

==Literary style and themes==
Kingsolver has written novels in both the [[first-person narrative|first-person]] and [[third-person narrative|third-person]] narrative styles, and she frequently employs overlapping narratives.<ref name="Men, Women and Coyotes"/>

Kingsolver often writes about places and situations with which she is familiar; many of her stories are based in places she has lived, such as [[Central Africa]], [[Arizona]], and [[Appalachia]]. She has stated that her novels are not autobiographical, although there are often commonalities between her life and her work.<ref name="Novel as Indictment"/> Her work is often strongly idealistic<ref name="At Lunch"/> and has been called a form of activism.<ref>{{cite book |title= Women on War: an International Anthology of Women's Writings from Antiquity to the Present|last=Gioseffi|first=Daniela|year= 2003|publisher=Feminist Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=1-55861-408-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womenonwarintern00gios/page/86 86]–88|url=https://archive.org/details/womenonwarintern00gios|url-access= registration|access-date=May 25, 2010}}</ref>

Her characters are frequently written around struggles for social equality, such as the hardships faced by undocumented immigrants, the working poor, and single mothers.<ref name="At Lunch"/> Other common themes in her work include the balancing of individuality with the desire to live in a community, and the interaction and conflict between humans and the ecosystems in which they live.<ref name="Listen Here"/> Kingsolver has been said to use prose and engaging narratives to make historical events, such as the Congo's struggles for independence, more interesting and engaging for the average reader.<ref name="Novel as Indictment"/>

==Awards and honors==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Work  !! Year & Award!!  Category !! Result !! Ref.
|-
| rowspan="2" |''[[Pigs in Heaven]]'' 
|1993 ''[[Los Angeles Times Book Prize]]''
|Fiction
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|1994 [[Bronze Wrangler]]
|Western Novel
|{{Won}}
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |''[[The Poisonwood Bible]]'' 
|1999 [[PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction]]
|
|{{sho}}
|
|-
|1999 [[List of Women's Prize for Fiction winners|Women's Prize for Fiction]]
|
|{{sho}}
|
|-
|1999 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]]
|
|{{CFinalist}}
|
|-
|1999 Ippy Awards
|Audio Fiction
|{{Won}}
|<ref>https://ippyawards.com/blog/1999-medalists</ref>
|-
|2000 [[Exclusive Books Boeke Prize]]
|Judge's Award
|{{Won}}
|
|-
| rowspan="6" |''[[Animal, Vegetable, Miracle]]'' 
|2008 [[Audie Awards]]
|Narration by the Author
|{{CFinalist}}
|
|-
|2008 [[Library of Virginia]]
|Virginia Literary Awards (Non-Fiction)
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref name="lva.virginia.gov"/>
|-
|2008 Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service
|Non-Fiction
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2008 [[Indies Choice Book Awards]]
|Adult Non-Fiction
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2008 James Beard Foundation award
|Writing on Food
|{{Won}}
|<ref>https://www.jamesbeard.org/awards/search-past-awards?year=&keyword=kingsolver</ref>
|-
|2008 [[Southern Book Prize]]
|Non-Fiction
|{{Won}}
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |''[[The Lacuna]]'' 
|2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
|
|{{sho}}
|
|-
|2010 [[List of Women's Prize for Fiction winners|Women's Prize for Fiction]]
|
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2010 [[Library of Virginia]]
|Virginia Literary Awards (Fiction)
|{{Won}}
|<ref name="lva.virginia.gov">https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/litawards/winners.htm</ref>
|-
|2011 [[International Dublin Literary Award]]
|
|{{sho}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |''[[Flight Behavior]]'' 
|2012 [[Goodreads Choice Awards]]
|Fiction
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-fiction-books-2012</ref>
|-
|2013 [[List of Women's Prize for Fiction winners|Women's Prize for Fiction]]
|
|{{sho}}
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |''[[Unsheltered (novel)|Unsheltered]]'' 
|2018 Goodreads Choice Awards
|Historical Fiction
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-historical-fiction-books-2018</ref>
|-
|2019 BookTube Prize
|Fiction
|{{nom|Octofinalist}}
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |''How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons)'' 
|2020 Goodreads Choice Awards
|Poetry
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-poetry-books-2020</ref>
|-
| rowspan="9" |''[[Demon Copperhead]]'' 
|2022 [[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]]
|Fiction Award
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2022 Goodreads Choice Awards
|Fiction
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-fiction-books-2022</ref>
|-
|2023 [[List of Women's Prize for Fiction winners|Women's Prize for Fiction]]
|
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2023 [[Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards]]
|Fiction
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2023 [[Orwell Prize]]
|Political Fiction
|{{sho}}
|
|-
|2023 Library of Virginia
|Virginia Literary Awards (Fiction)
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|2023 BookTube Prize
|Fiction
|{{sho|Gold Medal}}
|<ref>https://www.booktubeprize.org/2023-fiction.html</ref>
|-
|2023 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]]
|
|{{Won}}
|
|-
|2024 [[British Book Awards]]
|Page-turner of the Year
|{{Nominated}}
|
|-
|}
'''Note:''' Kingsolver's Women's Prize for Fiction win for ''Demon Copperhead'' made her the first person to win the award twice.<ref>https://www.nationalbook.org/national-book-foundation-to-present-lifetime-achievement-award-to-barbara-kingsolver/</ref>

;Other Awards
* Arizona Civil Liberties Union Award<ref>http://www.kingsolver.com/awards-and-honors/</ref>
* Won the [[National Humanities Medal]] in 2000.
* Won the [[Dayton Literary Peace Prize]]'s "Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award" in 2011.
* In 2014, won the [[Library of Virginia]]'s Virginia Literary Awards' Lifetime Achievement award.<ref name="lva.virginia.gov"/>
* In 2018, recognized & honored as "Virginia Women in History".<ref>https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/va-women-2018</ref>
* Inducted into the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] for Literature in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Membership |url=https://www.artsandletters.org/membership |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=American Academy of Arts and Letters |language=en}}</ref>
* Received the [[National Book Foundation]]'s 2024 Medal for Distinguished Contributions to American Letters (DCAL).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Andrews |first=Meredith |date=2024-09-04 |title=National Book Foundation to Present Lifetime Achievement Award to Barbara Kingsolver |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/national-book-foundation-to-present-lifetime-achievement-award-to-barbara-kingsolver/ |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=National Book Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Works==
===Fiction===
* ''[[The Bean Trees]]'', 1988, 1st UK edition 1989, Limited edition (200) 1992
* ''Homeland and Other Stories'', 1989
* ''[[Animal Dreams]]'', 1990
* ''[[Pigs in Heaven]]'', 1993
* ''[[The Poisonwood Bible]]'', 1998
* ''[[Prodigal Summer]]'', 2000
* ''[[The Lacuna]]'', 2009
* ''[[Flight Behavior]]'', 2012
* ''[[Unsheltered]]'', 2018
* ''[[Demon Copperhead]]'', 2022

===Essays===
* ''[[High Tide in Tucson|High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never]]'', 1995, also: Limited edition (150) 1995
* ''[[Small Wonder (essays)|Small Wonder: Essays]]'', 2002

===Poetry===
* ''Another America'', 1992
* ''How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons)'', 2020

===Nonfiction===
* ''Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983'', 1989, {{isbn|9780875461564}}
* ''Last Stand: America's Virgin Lands'', 2002 (with photographer Annie Griffiths Belt) {{isbn|9780792269090}}
* ''[[Animal, Vegetable, Miracle|Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life]]'', 2007 (with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver) {{isbn|9780062653055}}<ref name="bibliography"/>

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Official website|http://www.barbarakingsolver.net}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090919045446/http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/5311/Barbara_Kingsolver/index.aspx Author page on HarperCollins]
* [http://animalvegetablemiracle.com/ Official page of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"]

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{{Barbara Kingsolver}}
{{Pulitzer Prize for Fiction}}
{{Virginia Women in History}}
{{Women's Prize for Fiction}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsolver, Barbara}}
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