“About “We Were the Mulvaneys” joycecaroloates.substack.com/p/about-we-w...”
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Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collection Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has…
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culture · American author (born 1938) · playwright · poet · novelist · essayist · autobiographer · writer · screenwriter · professor · diarist · docent · also Joyce Carol Oates, Oates
Born 16 June 1938 · Q217557
103 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 19 entries
“this looks fascinating! "animal grief" is real, very touching.”
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“Why are progressives winning across the United States? It’s not complicated | Bernie Sanders”
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“My painting GREAT PLAINS STORM”
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“Home at Last, Akiko Watanabe 2006”
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“8 of the Most Loved Photos on Street Art Utopia: streetartutopia.com/2026/08/19/8...”
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- #bluesky
- #self-published
“Emil Nolde’s "Sea at Sunset with Sailboat" (1943)”
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- #bluesky
- #self-published
“Thanks! This is very plausible & good to know.”
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- #bluesky
- #self-published
“Serge Marshennikov - "Velvet and Sand" (2026)”
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- #bluesky
- #self-published
“If you like short stories you'll want to check out these 2 collections by @joycecaroloates.bsky.social and Danny McBride! #Books #Booksky @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social”
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The Bookseller: British Library announces American Writers’ Week with Joyce Carol Oates and Viet Thanh Nguyen
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- #headline
Public attention spiked: 9,494 Wikipedia readers in one day, 12.1× the usual 784, with 2 article edits. Coverage that week: “‘The crude language of Maga folks’: Joyce Carol Oates criticises Emily Wilson for criticising Nolan’s Odyssey” (The Guardian).
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- #attention
- #spike
- #pageviews
The Guardian: ‘The crude language of Maga folks’: Joyce Carol Oates criticises Emily Wilson for criticising Nolan’s Odyssey
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- #headline
The Hollywood Reporter: Joyce Carol Oates Defends ‘Odyssey’ Against Translator’s Viral Slam: “Crude Language of MAGA Folks”
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- #headline
The Guardian: Joyce Carol Oates thinks the 90s TV adaptation of The Odyssey is the best. I beg to differ | Stuart Heritage
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Public attention spiked: 4,767 Wikipedia readers in one day, 6.1× the usual 784, with 0 article edits. Coverage that week: “Richer than Musk: Joyce Carol Oates on her 88 years of watching, writing, feeling and loving” (The Guardian).
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- #attention
- #spike
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The Guardian: Richer than Musk: Joyce Carol Oates on her 88 years of watching, writing, feeling and loving
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The New York Times: From Joyce Carol Oates, a ‘Frenzy’ of Fear and Foreboding
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Yahoo: Joyce Carol Oates calls out ‘absurd’ Marty Supreme and deems it ‘slapstick farce’
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2025· 2 entries
Oates took to X (formerly Twitter), posting a critique of a user that most readers assumed to be X owner Elon Musk, though he is not named specifically
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- #wikipedia
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The Guardian: Long live Joyce Carol Oates’ Twitter account: the only pure space left on this hell site
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2023· 4 entries
AV Club: Joyce Carol Oates spent the long weekend using her Twitter to dunk on transphobes
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- #headline
“(cont'd) " The high school students stared & took notes. No one seemed to think that Vonnegut might not be entirely serious . . . At the evening’s event in an enormous theater in Hartford, he continued in this vein, oracular even when silly. Asked what was the mean- ing of the universe, Kurt said, “The meaning of the universe? Why ask me? I’m full of baloney.””
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“(from my introduction to "Letters to a Biographer" assembled by my biographer Greg Johnson, probable pub. date 2024) "Very funny to recall sharing a stage with Kurt Vonnegut in February 2006 under the auspices of the Connecticut Forum, during which Kurt regaled the audience of 2,500 persons, many of them from high school classes, with his bleak, seriocomic pessimism: . . . intoning like a Buddha/tortoise, “Humankind is a disease. We’re like syphilis, we should be stamped out.””
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“thanks to several helpful people, Lilith has figured out how to use the "search" device. now, she is all set to explore Mastodon!”
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- #self-published
2022· 11 entries
“back in May 2019 when Zanche was "Lacey" at the rescue shelter; but soon to be adopted & brought to her Forever Home. we were both sad cases at the time but helped each other brighten, in time.”
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“Lilith, too, is excited about her donations! she hopes that you will rush out to adopt a sad, lonely, frightened orphaned animal to bring home. guarantee: both of you will be happier!”
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- #self-published
“It's that time of year! Zanche is thrilled to give donations to non-profits & charitable organizations, beginning with S.A.V.E., the rescue shelter that saved her (precious) life four years ago.”
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“Lilith is dejected, she cannot figure out how to navigate Mastodon. is there no "search" bar? where is everyone? Lilith found the hectic pace & atmosphere of Twitter too much for her introverted nature; but still, Lilith hopes to meet other bookish kitties soon....”
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“Zanche is thrilled to have discovered a new (to her: she's just three years old) wonderful Canadian writer, Suzette Mayr!”
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“Lilith wishes everyone a very happy Christmas & happy Hanukkah! also, wishes it to be known that she did not really cooperate & jumped down immediately. # CaturdayChristmas”
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“a favorite photograph commemorating friendship in a dark time. wishing on this Christmas Eve such friendships for all. not all love will endure but some loves will prevail.”
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The Guardian: Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates audiobook review – an imagined life of Marilyn Monroe
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The Guardian: ‘Every time I write, it’s like the first time’: Joyce Carol Oates on her 61 novels, Twitter storms and widowhood
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The Guardian: Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates review – risk-taking and unforgettable
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The Guardian: Night, Neon and Other Stories of Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates review – nuanced, not neat, thrillers
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2020· 1 entry
Awarded Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (2020).
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- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2019· 2 entries
Oates announced via Twitter that Gross had died at the age of 83
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- #wikipedia
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“Trump is like a figurehead, but I think what really controls everything is just a few really wealthy families or corporations.”
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- #wikipedia
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2016· 2 entries
Awarded Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection for The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror (2016).
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- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Bram Stoker Award for Short Fiction (2016).
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- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2014· 1 entry
And was honored at a retirement party in November of that year
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2012· 2 entries
Awarded Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection for Black Dahlia & White Rose (2012).
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Awarded New Jersey Hall of Fame (2012).
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2011· 3 entries
Awarded Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection for The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares (2011).
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Awarded World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction for Fossil-Figures (2011).
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Awarded grand prix de l'héroïne Madame Figaro du roman étranger (2011).
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2010· 3 entries
Awarded Fernanda Pivano Award for American Literature (2010).
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Won National Humanities Medal (2010).
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- #trophy
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Awarded Lucien Barrière Literary Award (2010).
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- #wikidata
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2009· 2 entries
Awarded Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award (2009).
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- #wikidata
- #award
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In early 2009, Oates and Gross were married.
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- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
2008· 6 entries
And the death affected Oates profoundly
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Oates said that of all her published work, she is most noted for "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been
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“moved away from keeping a formal journal”
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In 2008, Oates said she had "moved away from keeping a formal journal" and instead preserved copies of her e-mails.
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- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
Smith died of complications from pneumonia on February 18, 2008, and the death affected Oates profoundly.
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- #wikipedia
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Oates said she had "moved away from keeping a formal journal" and instead preserved copies of her e-mails
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- #wikipedia
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2007· 5 entries
Awarded Humanist of the Year (2007).
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- #wikidata
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Entertainment Weekly listed its Oates favorites as Wonderland, Black Water, Blonde, I'll Take You There (2002), and The Falls (2004)
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“I think of religion as a kind of psychological manifestation of deep powers, deep imaginative, mysterious powers which are always with us.”
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- #wikipedia
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Oates was raised Catholic, but as of 2007 she identified as an atheist.
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- #wikipedia
- #life
- #religion
Michael Dirda suggested that disparaging criticism of Oates "derives from reviewer's angst: How does one judge a new book by Oates when one is not familiar with most of the backlist
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- #wikipedia
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2006· 1 entry
The Times listed them, On Boxing (1987), Black Water, and High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories, 1966–2006 (2006) as "The Pick of Joyce Carol Oates"
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- #wikipedia
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2005· 1 entry
Awarded Prix Femina étranger (2005).
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- #wikidata
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2004· 2 entries
Oates described the partnership as "a marriage of like minds – both my husband and I are so interested in literature and we read the same books; he'll be reading a book and then I'll read it – we trade and we talk about
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- #wikipedia
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The Guardian noted that, "Nearly every review of an Oates book, it seems, begins with a list [of her publication totals]"
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2003· 2 entries
Awarded Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service (2003).
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- #wikidata
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Oates herself said that she thinks she will be remembered for, and would most want a first-time Oates reader to read, them and Blonde, although she "could as easily have chosen a number of titles
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2002· 2 entries
Awarded Carl Sandburg Literary Award (2002).
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Awarded Helmerich Award (2002).
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2001· 1 entry
Awarded Oprah's Book Club for We Were the Mulvaneys (2001).
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1996· 2 entries
Awarded PEN/Malamud Award (1996).
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Oates published We Were the Mulvaneys, a novel following the disintegration of an American family, which became a best-seller after being selected by Oprah's Book Club in 2001
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1995· 1 entry
Awarded Bram Stoker Award for Novel for Zombie (1995).
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1993· 1 entry
Awarded Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement (1993).
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1990· 2 entries
Awarded Rea Award for the Short Story (1990).
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Oates discussed her novel, Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart, which also deals with themes of racial tension, and described "the experience of writing [it]" as "so intense it seemed almost electric"
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- #wikipedia
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1989· 1 entry
That Oates's "name is synonymous with productivity
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1988· 1 entry
Awarded St. Louis Literary Award (1988).
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1980· 1 entry
Oates and Smith founded Ontario Review Books, an independent publishing house
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1978· 7 entries
Moved to Princeton, New Jersey, and began teaching at Princeton University
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“Our enemy is by tradition our savior, in preventing us from superficiality.”
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“When you’re 50 you start thinking about things you haven’t thought about before. I used to think getting old was about vanity — but actually it’s about losing people you love. Getting wrinkles is trivial.”
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Sylvester & Orphanos published A Sentimental Education, a collection of short stories
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“Ela passava por inteligente. Mas o que fazer da inteligência, como servir-se dela?.”
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“Prawdopodobnie najtrudniej „stworzyć” rozsądną, dobroduszną, uprzejmą i delikatną osobę, jednocześnie nie czyniąc go albo jej nudną.”
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“Nie jestem katoliczką i generalnie mam problem z łatwowiernością wierzących, którzy często sprawiają wrażenie, że modlą się o to, by ich okłamywano.”
- #wikiquote
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1973· 2 entries
As a diarist, Oates began keeping a detailed journal in 1973, documenting her personal and literary life; it eventually grew to "more than 4,000 single-spaced typewritten pages".
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- #wikipedia
- #life
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Documenting her personal and literary life; it eventually grew to "more than 4,000 single-spaced typewritten pages"
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- #event
1970· 1 entry
Awarded National Book Award for Them (1970).
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- #award
- #achievement
1968· 1 entry
With her husband, to a teaching position at the University of Windsor in Ontario
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1967· 2 entries
Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship (1967).
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Awarded O. Henry Award (1967).
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1966· 1 entry
Published "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been
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1964· 1 entry
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
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- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #corroborated
- #www.nytimes.com
1963· 1 entry
And has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction
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1962· 1 entry
Where she began teaching at the University of Detroit
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1961· 1 entry
Studied at University of Wisconsin–Madison, Master of Arts (1961).
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1960· 1 entry
Studied at Syracuse University (1960).
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1956· 1 entry
Where she worked for her high school newspaper
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1938· 1 entry
Born 1938-06-16.
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- #birth
1917· 1 entry
Which led to Oates' mother's informal adoption
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