One of the best-known writers of the twentieth century and winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, Annie Dillard developed a following unique among writers. Her readers embrace her mixture of literary, philosophical, theological, and scientific themes regardless of the genre in which they appear, from the essays of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Holy the Firm, and Teaching a Stone to Talk, to the poetry of Tickets for a Prayer Wheel and Mornings Like This, and from the autobiographical prose of Encounters with Chinese Writers, An American Childhood, and The Writing Life to the literary criticism of Living by Fiction and the fiction of The Living. In part, Dillard achieved her popularity because of her ongoing interest in spiritual experience, interdisciplinary knowledge, and aesthetic creation, all topics that mirror the concerns of a growing segment of the reading public.

Born Meta Ann Doak...