Growing up on her family’s dairy farm in Kentucky, Bobbie Ann Mason ’72 Ph.D., ’02 H explored the natural world unfolding all around her. The farm was at the very center of her family, but even as a young girl, she knew she wanted a different life.
She loved to read, she says — “The Bobbsey Twins,” Nancy Drew mysteries, and “Little Women.”
“Books made me want to know so much more about the world.” She knew her future would involve words. “I wanted to write,” she says. “But I knew you couldn’t make a living from it.”
As it turns out, writing has made for quite a life. Mason’s latest book, “Dear Ann,” was released last September. At 80, the celebrated, bestselling author is navigating the uncharted terrain of a book tour during a pandemic, doing Zoom interviews, and giving talks at bookstores around the country, where she is introduced as one of America’s greatest writers.