The Phototropic Woman (Iowa Short Fiction Award) by Annabel Thomas
English | Nov. 1981 | ISBN: 0877451133 | 172 Pages | PDF | 6 MB
Annabel Thomas considers herself something of a recluse, "except when my four children arrive home from college with dirty laundry and ideas rampant." She sings, plays the guitar, rides her bicycle down the country roads near Ashley, Ohio, and writes unceasingly. When asked about the geography behind her unique vision, she tells of the Appalachian Hills where her parents lived; of Columbus, Ohio, where she grew up, earned her B.A. from Ohio State University, and wrote for The Columbus Citizen-Journal; and of her life now in the small farm community where she has helped her husband in his veterinary practice.

Annabel Thomas considers herself something of a recluse, "except when my four children arrive home from college with dirty laundry and ideas rampant." She sings, plays the guitar, rides her bicycle down the country roads near Ashley, Ohio, and writes unceasingly. When asked about the geography behind her unique vision, she tells of the Appalachian Hills where her parents lived; of Columbus, Ohio, where she grew up, earned her B.A. from Ohio State University, and wrote for The Columbus Citizen-Journal; and of her life now in the small farm community where she has helped her husband in his veterinary practice. "I grew up with one foot in the modern urban 'flatlands' and the other in rural, primitive hill country. I believe the pull of different cultures resulted in a sort of double vision, a feeling of standing outside my own times, looking on from a distance." Thomas wrote poetry when she was five and her first novel when she was ten. She has published 26 stories, two of which were selected for O. Henry Prize Stories.