Anne Rivers Siddons (born Sybil Anne Rivers, January 9, 1936 – September 11, 2019) was an American novelist who wrote stories set in the southern United States.
Early years
The only child of Marvin and Katherine Rivers, she was born in Atlanta, Georgia, was raised in Fairburn, Georgia, and attended Auburn University, where she majored in illustration after initially studying architecture. She was named Loveliest of the Plains and was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. While at Auburn she wrote a column for the student newspaper, The Auburn Plainsman, that favored integration. The university administration attempted to suppress the column (when she refused to reconsider what she wrote, the piece ran with a disclaimer), She struggled with four years of depression in the early 1980s, essentially stopping her writing. In 1991, she received an honorary degree in Doctor of Letters from Oglethorpe University. She lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and spent summers in Maine. Siddons died on September 11, 2019, at the age of 83 in Charleston.
Selected works
Novels
- Heartbreak Hotel (1976)
- The House Next Door (1978)
- Fox's Earth (1981)
- Homeplace (1987)
- Peachtree Road (1988)
- Kings Oak (1990)
- Outer Banks (1991)
- Colony (1992)
- Hill Towns (1993)
- Downtown (1994)
- Fault Lines (1995)
- Up Island (1997)
- Low Country (1998)
- Nora, Nora (2000)
- Islands (2004)
- Sweetwater Creek (2005)
- Off Season (2008)
- Burnt Mountain (7/2010)
- The Girls of August (2014)
Non-fiction
- John Chancellor Makes Me Cry (1975)
Filmography
- Heart of Dixie (1989), based on Heartbreak Hotel
- The House Next Door (TV) (2006)