Frances Mayes is an American
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...
. Her 1996 memoir ''
Under the Tuscan Sun.'' was on the New York Times Best Seller list for over two years and was the basis for the film ''
Under the Tuscan Sun''.
Biography
Born and raised in
Fitzgerald
The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, Mayes attended
Randolph-Macon Woman's College
Randolph College is a private liberal arts and sciences college in Lynchburg, Virginia. Founded in 1891 as Randolph-Macon Woman's College, it was renamed on July 1, 2007, when it became coeducational.
The college offers 32 majors; 42 minors; ...
in
Lynchburg,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, and obtained her
BA from the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
. In 1975 she earned her
MA from
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...
, where she eventually became Professor of Creative Writing, director of The Poetry Center, and chair of the Department of Creative Writing.
Mayes has published several works of
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
: ''Climbing Aconcagua'' (1977), ''Sunday in Another Country'' (1977), ''After Such Pleasures'' (1979), ''The Arts of Fire'' (1982), ''Hours'' (1984), and ''Ex Voto'' (1995). In 1996 she published the book ''
Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy'', which was on the
''New York Times'' Best Seller list for over two years. The book is a memoir of Mayes buying, renovating, and living in an abandoned villa in rural
Cortona in
Tuscany
it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Citizenship
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 = Italian
, demogra ...
, a region of Italy. A film loosely based on the book, ''
Under the Tuscan Sun.'' was released in 2003, adapted by director
Audrey Wells. In 1999, ''Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy'' was published, and in 2000, ''In Tuscany''. Mayes's first novel, ''Swan'', was published in 2002. The book ''Bringing Tuscany Home'' was published in 2004, a collaborative effort of Mayes and her husband
Edward Kleinschmidt Mayes with photographer Steven Rothfeld. Another memoir, ''Every Day in Tuscany'', was released in March 2010.
Also a food-and-travel writer, Mayes is the editor of ''
The Best American Travel Writing 2002'' and the author of ''A Year in the World: Journeys of A Passionate Traveller'' (2006), narratives of her and her husband's travels in Greece, Turkey, Spain, Morocco and other countries.
Now writing full-time, she and her husband, a poet, divide their time between homes in
Hillsborough, North Carolina
The town of Hillsborough is the county seat of Orange County, North Carolina, United States and is located along the Eno River. The population was 6,087 in 2010, but it grew rapidly to 9,660 by 2020.
Its name was unofficially shortened to "Hills ...
and
Cortona, Italy, where she serves as the artistic director of the annual
Tuscan Sun Festival
The Tuscan Sun Festival is an annual music and lifestyle festival in Florence, the capital of Tuscany in Italy. ''The Independent'' called the festival “One of the Ten Best Summer Arts Festivals in Europe”.'
Described by the ''International He ...
.
BooksAbout Frances Mayes
francesmayesbooks.com. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
* ''Sunday in Another Country''
* ''Hours''
* ''After Such Pleasures''
* ''The Discovery of Poetry: A Field Guide to Reading and Writing''
* ''Ex Voto''
* ''
Under the Tuscan Sun''
* ''Bella Tuscany''
* ''A Year in the World: Journeys of A Passionate Traveller''
* ''Every Day in Tuscany''
* ''In Tuscany''
* ''Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style from the Heart of Italy (with Edward Mayes and Steven Rothfeld)''
* ''The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from My Italian Kitchen''
* ''Under Magnolia: A Southern Memoir''
* ''Swan''
* ''The Arts of Fire''
* ''The Book of Summer''
* ''Shrines: Images of Italian Worship (with Steven Rothfeld)''
* ''Women in Sunlight''
* ''See You in the Piazza''
References
External links
Frances Mayes website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayes, Frances
1940 births
Living people
People from Fitzgerald, Georgia
21st-century American novelists
American women novelists
Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state)
People from Hillsborough, North Carolina
American women poets
American women essayists
21st-century American women writers
21st-century American poets
21st-century American essayists
University of Florida alumni
Randolph College alumni
San Francisco State University alumni
San Francisco State University faculty
American women travel writers
American travel writers