DOROTHY ALLISON

Dorothy Allison's first novel, 'Bastard Out Carolina', was one of five finalists for the 1992 National Book Award. It went on to win both the Ferro Grumley and Bay Area Book Reviewers Awards for fiction. The novel has appeared in translation in French, German, Greek, Spanish, Norse, Chinese and Italian. A movie version of 'Bastard Out of Carolina' directed by Angelica Huston premiered on Showtime in 1996.

Allison's second novel, the critically acclaimed 'Cavedweller' (Dutton, 1998), was a New York Times Best seller. 'Cavedweller' won the 1998 Lambda Literary Award for fiction and was a finalist for the Lillian Smith Prize. It is currently being adapted for the stage by Kate Ryna.

In 1998, Allison founded The Independent Spirit Award, a prize given each year to an individual whose work with small presses and independent bookstores has helped to sustain that enterprise. The award, administered by the Astraea Foundation, is designed to encourage the people and institutions which are so vital to supporting new writers and to introducing readers to works that might otherwise go unheard and unread.

Allison is a member of the board of PEN International. She also serves on the Advisory board of the National Coalition Against Censorship and Feminists for Free Expression, and the advisory board of the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award, a prize which is presented annually to a science fiction or fantasy work that explores and expands on contemporary ideas of gender.