Godwin, Gail

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Author Gail Godwin was born in Birmingham, Ala.; grew up in Asheville, N.C.; was graduated in 1959 from the University of North Carolina with a B.A. in journalism; and studied at the Iowa Writers Workshop, earning an M.A. in creative writing and Ph. D. in English literature. She has published ten novels and taught in various colleges and universities. Godwin lives in Woodstock, N.Y.

From the description of Gail Godwin papers, 1913-2006. WorldCat record id: 49338168

Gail Godwin (1937- ) was born in Birmingham, Ala., to Mose W. Godwin and Kathleen Krahenbuhl Godwin (later Cole). Her parents divorced when she was a child and she was raised by her mother and maternal grandmother, Edna Rogers Krahenbuhl. Kathleen was both parent and friend to Gail, and the close relationship between mother and daughter would be lifelong.

Kathleen (1912-1989) grew up in western North Carolina with her parents, Tom Krahenbuhl and Edna Rogers Krahenbuhl. She attended Greenville Womans College and then transferred to Furman University to finish her B.A. In 1935 she earned an M.A. in English from the University of North Carolina. Kathleen married Mose W. Godwin in 1936 and gave birth to Gail the following year. The marriage was shortlived. After the divorce, Kathleen supported her daughter and mother by teaching college English, reporting for the Asheville Citizen Times, and writing romance fictions under the names Kathleen Godwin and Charlotte Ashe. In 1948, she married Frank Cole and with him had three more children: Franchelle Cole, Tommy Cole, and Rebel Cole. Kathleen returned to creative writing after her children were grown, although not for financial gain. She also divorced Frank Cole and became active in local Episcopal churches and in the volunteer community of Asheville, N.C. Kathleen Cole died in 1989.

Kathleen's influence in her daughter's life is particularly evident in Gail's educational training and career path as a writer. As a child, Gail attended St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines Academy, a school run by Roman Catholic nuns in Asheville, N.C. She was graduated from high school in 1955 in Portsmouth, Va., and enrolled in Peace Junior College in Raleigh, N.C. She continued her studies at the University of North Carolina, where she was graduated in 1959 with a B.A. in journalism. While at the University of North Carolina, Gail wrote columns and feature articles for the student newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel .

After college, Gail moved to Florida to take a job as a reporter for the Miami Herald . A year later, she was fired by the bureau chief, who felt they had both failed to develop Gail's writing ability into good reporting. Frustrated by this setback in her writing career, she married Miami Herald photographer Doug Kennedy. The union, which lasted only three months, is described in her unpublished first novel, Gull Key. Upon dissolution of her marriage, Gail returned briefly to western North Carolina, then embarked on an open-ended trip to Europe. She stayed six years. For most of that time, she worked for the U.S. Travel Service at the American Embassy in London and wrote novels and short stories in her spare time. In 1965, she married Ian Marshall, an English psychiatrist she met in a creative writing class. This marriage also proved to be brief, though it provided her with material for her first published novel, The Perfectionists .

After six years abroad, Godwin returned to the United States and enrolled in the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she earned an M.A. in creative writing and a Ph.D. in English literature. The Perfectionists (1970) would serve as her dissertation. While at the Writers' Workshop, Gail studied creative writing under Kurt Vonnegut and with John Irving. Both would remain good friends of Godwin's, and the latter a regular correspondent and friendly critic.

After leaving Iowa City, Godwin accepted a fellowship at the University of Illinois, spent time at the Yaddo artist community in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and occasionally taught writing courses at various New York schools, including Vassar College and Columbia University. In 1976, Godwin settled in Woodstock, N.Y., with composer Robert Starer, her companion until his death in April 2001.

In the course of her more than 30 years of full-time writing, Godwin has published twelve novels, two collections of short fiction, a work of non-fiction, and an edited version of her early journals. In addition, dozens of her short stories and essays have been published in journals, magazines, and newspapers, and she and Starer collaborated on ten musical works. Godwin's body of work has garnered many honors, including three National Book Award nominations, a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Five of her novels have been on the New York Times best seller list.

Godwin lives and writes in Woodstock, N.Y.

From the guide to the Gail Godwin Papers, 1913-2008, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn New Yorker records New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division
creatorOf Gail Godwin Papers, 1913-2008 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection
referencedIn Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (Firm). Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill records, 1982-2007 (author abstract D-K). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
referencedIn Yardley, Jonathan. Jonathan Yardley papers, 1792-2006. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
referencedIn Vonnegut mss., 1941-2007 Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)
referencedIn Patricia Rowe Willrich Papers, 1949-1996 David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
creatorOf Additional Papers of Alan Cheuse 1961-1988 University of Virginia. Library
creatorOf Godwin, Gail. Antiques tell a tale : [typescript] : and related correspondence, 1984. University of South Carolina, System Library Service, University Libraries
creatorOf Godwin, Gail. Gail Godwin papers, 1913-2006. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
creatorOf Gerard, Philip. [North Carolina authors literary ephemera : G]. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
referencedIn Powell, Dannye Romine. Dannye Romine Powell papers, 1975-1999. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
referencedIn Joyce Carol Oates Papers, 1956-2006 Syracuse University. Library. Special Collections Research Center
referencedIn Norval Neil Luxon Papers, circa 1930-1989 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection
referencedIn Kirsch, Robert. Robert Kirsch papers, 1979. The University of Tulsa, McFarlin Library
referencedIn Richard Gaither Walser Papers, 1918-1988 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection
referencedIn McDowell, Frederick P. W. Fred McDowell collection of literary correspondence, 1965-1992. University of Iowa Libraries
creatorOf Starer, Robert. Anna Margarita's will : for soprano, flute, horn in F, cello and piano / music by Robert Starer ; text by Gail Godwin. The Juilliard School, Lila Acheson Wallace Library
referencedIn Spearman, Walter. Walter Spearman papers, 1900-1986 [manuscript]. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
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associatedWith Allan Gurganus person
associatedWith American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters corporateBody
associatedWith American Audio Prose Library corporateBody
associatedWith Anne Tyler person
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correspondedWith Baym, Nina person
associatedWith Betsky, Celia. person
associatedWith Bill Cathey person
associatedWith Book of the Month Club corporateBody
associatedWith Cathedral of All Souls corporateBody
correspondedWith Cathey, Bill person
associatedWith Charlotte Ashe person
associatedWith Cheuse, Alan. person
correspondedWith Cole family
associatedWith Cole family. family
associatedWith Cole, Kathleen person
associatedWith Cole, Kathleen, 1912-1989. person
associatedWith Cole, Tommy person
associatedWith DeKoven Center corporateBody
associatedWith Don Swaim person
correspondedWith Dora Godwin person
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associatedWith Doug Kennedy person
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correspondedWith Franchelle Cole person
correspondedWith Frank Cole person
associatedWith Frank Crowther person
correspondedWith Gale Webbe person
associatedWith Garland Radford person
correspondedWith Godwin family
associatedWith Godwin, Mose W. person
associatedWith Godwin, William person
associatedWith Goodwin family. family
associatedWith Greenville Womans College corporateBody
associatedWith Ian Marshall person
associatedWith Iowa Writers' Workshop. corporateBody
correspondedWith Irving, John person
associatedWith Irving, John, 1942- person
correspondedWith Jack Krahenbuhl person
associatedWith James Agee person
associatedWith Janet Vincent-Scaringe person
correspondedWith John Hawkins person
associatedWith John Irving person
associatedWith John Updike person
associatedWith Jonathan Yardley person
associatedWith Josephine Humphreys person
associatedWith Justin Cole person
associatedWith Kanuga Conference Center corporateBody
correspondedWith Kathleen Cole person
associatedWith Kathleen Godwin person
associatedWith Kathleen Winters person
associatedWith Kaye Gibbons person
associatedWith Kennedy family
correspondedWith Kirsch, Robert. person
associatedWith Knopf Publishing corporateBody
correspondedWith Krahenbuhl family
associatedWith Krahenbuhl, Edna Rogers, 1882-1972. person
associatedWith Krähenbühl family. family
associatedWith Kurt Vonnegut person
associatedWith Larry Colet person
associatedWith Lewis Lapham person
associatedWith Lorraine O'Grady person
associatedWith Luxon, Norval Neil, b. 1899. person
associatedWith Marshall family
correspondedWith Marshall, Ian person
associatedWith Mary Lee Settle person
correspondedWith McDowell, Frederick P. W. person
correspondedWith Merchant, Pat person
correspondedWith Millender, Franchelle Cole person
associatedWith Monica Lauritzen person
correspondedWith Mose W. Godwin person
associatedWith National Humanities Center corporateBody
correspondedWith New Yorker Magazine, Inc corporateBody
associatedWith Nina Baym person
correspondedWith North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement corporateBody
associatedWith Norval Neil Luxon person
associatedWith Oates, Joyce Carol, 1938- person
correspondedWith O'Brien, Carrie Hayes person
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associatedWith Paul Theroux person
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associatedWith Powell, Dannye Romine. person
associatedWith Prissy Hursh Benander person
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correspondedWith Rebel Zeigler person
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associatedWith Robb Forman Dew person
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correspondedWith Robert Starer person
correspondedWith Rogers family
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associatedWith Shirley Fay Weldon person
correspondedWith Sophie Krahenbuhl person
correspondedWith Sophie Krahenbuhl Zeigler person
correspondedWith Sophie Zeigler person
associatedWith Spearman, Walter. person
associatedWith Stacy Barbour person
associatedWith Starer, Robert. person
associatedWith State Department corporateBody
associatedWith St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines Academy corporateBody
associatedWith St. Hilda's Press. corporateBody
associatedWith T. Coraghessan Boyle person
correspondedWith Tom Krahenbuhl person
correspondedWith Tommy Cole person
associatedWith Toni Morrison person
associatedWith Trinity Church corporateBody
associatedWith Trinity Conference Center corporateBody
associatedWith Trinity Institute corporateBody
associatedWith United States Information Service corporateBody
associatedWith University of Iowa corporateBody
correspondedWith University of North Carolina corporateBody
correspondedWith University of North Carolina at Asheville corporateBody
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associatedWith University of North Carolina at Greensboro corporateBody
correspondedWith Updike, John person
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correspondedWith Vincent-Scaringe, Janet person
associatedWith Vonnegut, Kurt. person
associatedWith Walker Percy person
associatedWith Walser, Richard Gaither, 1908- person
associatedWith Walter Spearman person
correspondedWith Webbe, Gale person
correspondedWith Western North Carolina Historical Association corporateBody
correspondedWith William Godwin person
associatedWith Willrich, Patrica Rowe person
correspondedWith Winters, Sister Kathleen person
associatedWith Yardley, Jonathan. person
correspondedWith Zeigler family
associatedWith Ziegler family. family
Place Name Admin Code Country
Southern States
North Carolina
Subject
Authors, American
Authors, American
Authors, American
Authors, American
American fiction
Novelists, American
Novelists, American
Women authors, American
Women authors, American
Women authors, American
Creative writing
Domestic fiction, American
Dream interpretation
Dreams
Families
Mothers and daughters
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1937-06-18

Americans

English

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