Annie Proulx, writer of 'Brokeback Mountain,' turns 82

CAIRO – 22 August 2017: August 22, is the 82nd birthday of award-winning author E. Annie Proulx (The E stands for Edna, which she has never used). She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for her book 'The Shipping News,' and even founded a newspaper in Vermont, 'The Vershire Behind the Times.'

Born in 1935 in Norwich, Connecticut, Proulx had written her first story when she was just ten years old. Her mother was a painter, while her father was the executive of a textile business, which made the family move around a lot during her early life. Proulx passed through several towns in New England and North Carolina, and she studied in several universities, including the University of Vermont and Montreal's Concordia University.

Although she was working for a Ph.D., Proulx decided to give it all up to pursue writing.

Proulx has authored well over eight books, and is most famous for the short story 'Brokeback Mountain', which was adapted into an academy-award winning movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. She is also the first woman to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, thanks to her 1993 story 'Postcards.'

In addition to writing, Proulx raised three sons by herself, much the same as her ability to become a literary name by her own merit.