Anne Rice is a best-selling Southern American writer of metaphysical gothic fiction, Christian literature and erotica from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her works have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read writers in modern history. She was married to poet and painter Stan Rice for 41 years until his death from brain cancer in 2002.
Rice started life the second of four daughters of Irish Catholic parents, Howard O'brien and Katherine Kay Allen O'brien, in New Orleans. Rice's dad worked for the U. Postal Service and authored the book, The Impulsive Imp, which was released posthumously. Rice's older sister, the late Alice Borchardt, was a noted genre writer. Her husband, Stan Rice was a highly regarded poet, and their son, Christopher Rice is a bestselling writer.
(Anne Rice photo #2)
Rice's early years were marked by coping with her mother's advancing alcoholism and poverty. She lived in the Irish Channel of New Orleans, which she describes as an Irish Catholic ghetto, in the rented home of her maternal grandmother, Alice Allen, known as Mamma Allen, at 2301 St. Charles Avenue. Mamma Allen, a hard working Irish Catholic woman who worked as a domestic after she separated from her alcoholic husband, was an important early influence in Rice's life, keeping the family and household together while Rice's mom sank deeper into alcoholism. She passed away in 1949, but the O'briens remained in her home until 1956, when they moved to 2524 St.
Anne Rice
