Joyce Carol Oates (bornJune 16, 1938) is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963and has since published over forty novels, as well as a number of plays andnovellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. She haswon many awards for her writing, including the National BookAward, for her novel them (1969), two O. HenryAwards, and the National Humanities Medal. Her novels Black Water (1992), WhatI Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000) were nominatedfor the Pulitzer Prize.
Oates has taught at Princeton University since 1978 andis currently the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor in the Humanitieswith the Program in Creative Writing.She expects to teach her last Princetonwriting seminar in the fall of 2014, and to formally retire from teaching the followingJuly.