Jane Smiley
Jane Smiley, residing in California with her three children, sixteen (and counting) horses and three dogs. Jane was born in Los Angeles and as a small baby her family moved to St. Louis Missouri where she went to grade school and high school (The John Burroughs School). After graduating from high school, Jane attended Vassar College and in 1971 she attained her BA. She then traveled throughout Europe even working on an archeological dig along with sight-seeing. After her tour of Europe Jane returned to Iowa to attend graduate school at the University of Iowa where she attained her MFA and Ph.D, in 1981 she also started to work at Iowa State University in Ames – teaching until 1996.