Birthday of novelist Anne Rice

CAIRO – 4 October 2017: October 4 is the birthday of American novelist Anne Rice, who turns 76 this year. She is best known for her dark, romantic fictional tales of vampires, “The Vampire Chronicles,” including “Interview with the Vampire.”

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Rice was originally named Howard after her father, but quickly rejected it in favor of a more feminine name. She wrote her first ever story at the age of 7, and her family moved to Texas when she was 15 after the death of her mother.

It was there that she would meet her future husband, Stan Rice, and moved to California to study creative writing. Rice’s first child, a daughter, died of Leukemia when she was only 5 years old. Dealing with her despair, Rice began writing dark novels about vampires.

She published “Interview with the Vampire” in 1976, which focused on a 200-year-old vampire named Lestat de Lioncourt, who was being interviewed by a mysterious boy. He ends up telling the boy everything about his life as a vampire. Lestat would later be used as the central character in Rice’s “Vampire Chronicles” series.

Although “Interview with the Vampire” was originally a failure amongst critics, it began to amass a cult following. It was eventually adapted into a feature film in 1994, which starred Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. The movie was nominated for two Oscars.



Away from vampires, Rice also wrote historical fiction. Published in 1979, “The Feast of All Saints” was a glimpse into the scandalous life of royalty in New Orleans, focusing on the lives of a rich family with mixed racial heritage as they lived with their identity in 19th century America. The book was adapted into a TV movie in 2001, which won a Primetime Emmy award.



The third book in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series, “Queen of the Damned,” was also adapted into a motion film in 2002. Though loosely adapted, the film still followed the general plot of Lestat, this time played by Stuart Townsend as a rock star that awakens the queen of all vampires, Akasha, played by Aaliyah.