Edna Annie Proulx was born in Norwich, Connecticut on August 22, 1935. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 1969 and earned an M. A. from Sir George Williams University in Montreal in 1973. She was a journalist, wrote nonfiction articles for numerous publications, and was the author of several "how-to" books before beginning to write fiction in her 50s. She became the first woman to win the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, for her debut novel Postcards. Her novel The Shipping News won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award in 1994. Accordion Crimes, published in 1996, won the Dos Passos Prize for literature. She also won the O. Henry prize for the year's best short story twice; in 1998 for Brokeback Mountain and in 1999 for The Mud Below. She has written more than 50 articles and stories for periodicals and edited Best American Short Stories of 1997.
Novelist Larry McMurtry was born June 3, 1936 in Wichita Falls, Texas. He received a B.A. from North Texas State University in 1958, an M.A. from Rice University in 1960, and attended Stanford University. He married Josephine Ballard in 1959, divorced in 1966, and had one son, folksinger James McMurtry. In 2011 he married Norma Faye Kesey. Until the age of 22, McMurtry worked on his father's cattle ranch. When he was 25, he published his first novel, "Horseman, Pass By" (1961), which was turned into the Academy Award-winning movie Hud in 1962. "The Last Picture Show" (1966) was made into a screenplay with Peter Bogdanovich, and the 1971 movie was nominated for eight Oscars, including one for best screenplay adaptation. "Terms of Endearment" (1975) received little attention until the movie version won five Oscars, including Best Picture, in 1983. McMurtry's novel "Lonesome Dove" (1985) won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 and the Spur Award and was followed by two popular TV miniseries. The other titles in the Lonesome Dove Series are "Streets of Laredo" (1993), "Dead Man's Walk" (1995), and "Comanche Moon" (1997). The other books in his Last Picture Show Trilogy are "Texasville" (1987) and "Duane's Depressed" (1999). McMurtry suffered a heart attack in 1991 and had quadruple-bypass surgery. Following that, he suffered from severe depression and it was during this time he wrote "Streets of Laredo," a dark sequel to "Lonesome Dove." His companion Diana Ossana, helping to pull him out of his depression, collaborated with him on "Pretty Boy Floyd" (1994) and "Zeke and Ned" (1997). He co-won the Best Screenplay Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Brokeback Mountain in 2006. He made The New York Times Best Seller List with his title's Custer and The Last Kind Words Saloon. Some of his other works included Cadillac Jack (1982), Somebody's Darling (1978), The Desert Rose (1983), The Last Kind Words Saloon (2014), Buffalo Girls (1990) and When the Light Goes (2007). His nonfiction included Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen (1999), Books: A Memoir (2008), Literary Life: A Second Memoir (2009), Hollywood: A Third Memoir (2011), and Custer (2012). He was the president of PEN America from 1989 to 1991. And in 2014, he was presented with a National Humanities Medal for his work, by President Barack Obama. McMurtry was considered one of the country's leading antiquarian book dealers. Larry McMurtry died of heart failure on March 25, 2021 in Archer City, Texas. He was 84.
Diana Ossana is a novelist, screenwriter and film producer best known for her collaborative film work with Pulitzer Prize winner Larry McMurtry. Her screenplay collaborations with McMurtry include Pretty Boy Floyd, Streets of Laredo, Dead Man's Walk (both of which were miniseries) and Brokeback Mountain. In 2005 the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain won the Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay and Writers Guild of America Award. Ossana was also a producer on the film, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama. Brokeback received widespread critical acclaim and it won the Golden Lion (Best Film) award at the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture - Drama.
