Meet the Kingsolvers

Barbara Kingsolver was born in 1955 and grew up in rural Kentucky. She earned degrees in biology from DePauw University and the University of Arizona and has worked as a freelance writer and author since 1985. She is the author of 18 books, which include works of fiction, non-fiction, essays, short stories, and poetry. Her best-known works include The Poisonwood Bible, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Demon Copperhead (a modern retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield) for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Women’s Prize for fiction in 2023. Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages and have been adopted into the core literature curriculum in schools throughout the US. She has two daughters and a husband, Steven Hopp, who teaches environmental studies. Since 2004, she and her family have lived on a farm in southern Appalachia where they raise an extensive vegetable garden and Icelandic sheep. She believes her best work is accomplished through writing and being an active citizen of her own community.

Lily Kingsolver grew up in southwest Virginia where the Appalachian Mountains ignited her passion for wild creatures and the places they live. She holds degrees in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia and Environmental Education from the Florida Institute of Technology, which she uses to share her love of nature as an educator, naturalist and author. She has returned to the Appalachian Mountains she loves so much where she lives with her husband on a farm near the forest. She hopes to advocate for the importance of all animals as well as for conservation of natural places around the world. She has co-authored the richly illustrated children’s book Coyote’s Wild Home with her mother, Barbara Kingsolver.

Tathagata Bhattacharya is a writer, journalist and sustainability expert who divides his time between the plains of Delhi and the mountains of Uttarakhand. He has over two decades of experience in writing and reporting as well as editorial management of diverse teams and media verticals. His current obsession is the mainstreaming of climate change–friendly habitats. He is the only child of cult Bengali writer Nabarun Bhattacharya and the only grandchild of noted playwright-director Bijon Bhattacharya and writer-activist Mahasweta Devi. General Firebrand and His Red Atlas is his first novel.