Ellen Cooney (1952 - )

Genre: Short Stories, General Fiction

Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, Ellen Cooney received her M.A. in English from Clark University in 1978. She now lives in Phippsburg, Maine and Cambridge, Massachusetts. A short story writer and novelist, her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Glimmer Train, Ontario Review, Literary Review (see 'A Father's Heart'), Story, and other literary magazines. Her work has also been included in the annual Best American Short Stories series. Cooney has taught writing at MIT, Harvard, Radcliffe, Boston College, Northeastern, and the University of Maine.

Her first published novel was Small Town Girl (1983) about a young Catholic girl growing up in the 1960s. Next was All The Way Home (1984), about women softball players. A dance teacher's creativity is revitalized in The Old Ballerina (1999). Tara and Guida find adventure and love in The White Palazzo (2002). Gun Ball Hill (2004), the first of three historical novels, takes place in Maine at the time of the Revolution. The second, A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies (2005) is set in 1900 Boston. In Lambrusco (2008), a mother travels across war-torn Italy in search of her son, a member of the Resistance.


Last Update: 02/07/2009

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