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You are here: Home > Authors > Rice, Anne

VJ Books Presents Anne Rice!

One of America's most read and celebrated authors, Anne Rice is known for weaving the visible and supernatural worlds together in epic stories that both entertain and challenge readers. Her books are rich tapestries of history, belief, philosophy, religion, and compelling characters that examine and extend our physical world beyond the limits we perceive.

Anne Rice began life as 'Howard Allen O'Brien'October 4, 1941, second of four daughters born to Howard and Katherine Allen O'Brien. She decided to call herself Anne when she enrolled in first grade at the Redemptorist Catholic School. Her mother (who had long suffered from alcoholism) died when Anne was nearly fifteen. Her father remarried and soon relocated the family to Richardson, Texas.

She graduated in 1959 and entered Texas Woman's University where she completed two years of school in one. In 1960 Anne moved to San Francisco where she took a furnished apartment in the Haight-Ashbury district. In 1961 Anne married Stan Rice and in 1962 they were both living in Haight-Ashbury. They graduated from San Francisco State in 1964, she in political science, he in creative writing. Their daughter Michele was born September 21, 1966.

In 1969 they moved to Berekely. There she wrote a short story "Interview With the Vampire". In 1970 Michele was diagnosed with leukemia. In 1972 Anne received her M.A. in creative writing; Michele died August 5. The next year Anne turned "Interview" into a novel, and over a year later Knopf offered her a $12,000 advance for it. Christopher was born March 11, 1978. In 1980 they moved to San Francisco's Castro District. "The Vampire Lestat" brought a $100,000 advance from Knopf. In 1988 they moved to New Orleans and bought a mansion in the Garden District. Stan, who had chaired the creative writing program at S.F. State, turned to painting. In 1994 "Interview" was very successfully released as a movie (amid much controversy -- some over content, mostly over casting) and Anne entered into a $17 million contract for three more Vampire Chronicles. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history.

In 2002, Stan rice passed away from brain cancer. In 2004, Rice announced her plans to leave New Orleans. She cited living alone since the death of her husband as the reason. "Simplifying my life, not owning so much, that's the chief goal", said Rice. "I'll no longer be a citizen of New Orleans in the true sense."

Though she had left New Orleans prior to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, and though none of her former New Orleans properties took on water, she remained an advocate for relief for the city. Interestingly, in her son Christopher's first published book, A Density of Souls (2000) five years earlier, the city of New Orleans is destroyed by a major hurricane named Hurricane Brandy. In October 2004, Rice announced in a Newsweek article that she would "write only for the Lord." She called Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, her first novel in this genre, the beginning of a trilogy that chronicles the life of Jesus. The second volume of the series, The Road to Cana, was published in March 2008.

Anne lives and works in California, near her son, bestselling author Christopher Rice. She says her life experiences and intellectual inquisitiveness provide her with constant inspiration for her work.