Anne Rivers Siddons

Anne Rivers Siddons (born Sybil Anne Rivers, January 9, 1936 – September 11, 2019) was an American novelist who wrote stories set in the southern United States.

Anne Rivers Siddons
BornSybil Anne Rivers
(1936-01-09)January 9, 1936
Fairburn, Georgia, U.S.
DiedSeptember 11, 2019(2019-09-11) (aged 83)
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
OccupationNovelist
Alma materAuburn University
Period1975–2019
GenreSouthern literature
SpouseHeyward Siddons

Early years

The only child[1] of Marvin and Katherine Rivers,[2] she was born in Atlanta, Georgia, was raised in Fairburn, Georgia, and attended Auburn University,[3] where she majored in illustration after initially studying architecture.[4] She was named Loveliest of the Plains[5] and was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. While at Auburn she wrote a column for the student newspaper, The Auburn Plainsman, that favored integration. The university administration attempted to suppress the column (when she refused to reconsider what she wrote, the piece ran with a disclaimer),[1] and ultimately fired her, and the column garnered national attention.

Career

Following her college graduation, Siddons worked in advertising, but her desire to write led her to journalism,[1] and in 1963 she became a writer for Atlanta magazine,[4] where she eventually became a senior editor.

Siddons' debut novel was Heartbreak Hotel (1976).[4] Peachtree Road, set in Atlanta, was a bestselling novel described as "the Southern novel for our generation" by Pat Conroy. More than a million copies are in print. In 1989 her book Heartbreak Hotel became a movie titled Heart of Dixie, which starred Ally Sheedy, Virginia Madsen, Phoebe Cates, Treat Williams, Kyle Secor, and Peter Berg.

Siddons's book The House Next Door was adapted for a made-for-television movie that aired in 2006 on Lifetime Television, starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Colin Ferguson, and Lara Flynn Boyle. The film tells the story of a woman who is drawn to a home filled with an evil presence that preys on its inhabitants’ weaknesses.

In 1994, Siddons signed with HarperCollins to write four books for $13 million.[5] She signed a three-book contract with Warner Books and her novel titled Off Season was released in 2008. Her novel "Burnt Mountain" made many best books of the year lists in 2011.

Reception

Stephen King, in his non-fiction review of the horror medium, Danse Macabre, listed The House Next Door as one of the finest horror novels of the 20th Century, and provides a lengthy review of the novel in its "Horror Fiction" section.

Personal life

At the age of thirty, she married Heyward Siddons, who died April 8, 2014.[6] She struggled with four years of depression in the early 1980s, essentially stopping her writing.[7] In 1991, she received an honorary degree in Doctor of Letters from Oglethorpe University.[8] She lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and spent summers in Maine. Siddons died on September 11, 2019 at the age of 83 in Charleston.[9]

Selected works

Novels
  • Heartbreak Hotel (1976)[10]
  • The House Next Door (1978)
  • Fox's Earth (1981)
  • Homeplace (1987)
  • Peachtree Road (1988)
  • Kings Oak (1990)
  • Outer Banks (1991)
  • Colony (1992)
  • Hill Towns (1993)
  • Downtown (1994)
  • Fault Lines (1995)
  • Up Island (1997)
  • Low Country (1998)
  • Nora, Nora (2000)
  • Islands (2004)
  • Sweetwater Creek (2005)
  • Off Season (2008)
  • Burnt Mountain (7/2010)
  • The Girls of August (2014)

Non-fiction
  • John Chancellor Makes Me Cry (1975)

Filmography
  • Heart of Dixie (1989), based on Heartbreak Hotel
  • The House Next Door (TV) (2006)

References
  1. Harkavy, Jerry (October 15, 2000). "'Nora' depicts sister Anne Rivers Siddons always wanted". The Morning Call. Pennsylvania, Allentown. Associated Press. p. E 7. Retrieved September 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Siddons, Anne Rivers 1936–". Encyclopedia.com. Thomson Gale. Archived from the original on September 13, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  3. "Anne Rivers Siddons". New Georgia Encyclopedia. December 7, 2005. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
  4. Pallats, Leonard (August 16, 1992). "Of family barriers and suicide". York Daily Record. Pennsylvania, York. Associated Press. p. 4. Retrieved September 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Skube, Michael (June 5, 1994). "Author, Atlanta Coming of Age". The Atlanta Constitution. Georgia, Atlanta. p. M 1. Retrieved September 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Obituaries – Heyward L. Siddons". The Washington Post. April 15, 2014.
  7. "Siddons: Author calls 1996 Atlanta 'a city being born'". The Atlanta Constitution. Georgia, Atlanta. June 5, 1995. p. M 4. Retrieved September 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Honorary Degrees Awarded by Oglethorpe University". Oglethorpe University. Archived from the original on 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  9. Jackson, Lily (Sep 11, 2019). "Anne Rivers Siddons, novelist who attended Auburn, dies at 83". al. Retrieved Sep 12, 2019.
  10. Sidodons, Anne Rivers (1976). Heartbreak Hotel. Simon and Schuster.
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