Ann Patchett is a renowned American author, born on December 2, 1963. She gained widespread recognition with her novel Bel Canto, which earned her the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her other celebrated novels include The Patron Saint of Liars (1992), Taft (1994), The Magician's Assistant (1997), Run (2007), State of Wonder (2011), Commonwealth (2016), The Dutch House (2019), and Tom Lake (2023). The Dutch House was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Patchett was born in Los Angeles, California, to novelist Jeanne Ray. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of six and continues to reside there with her husband, Karl VanDevender, and their dog, Sparky. She attended St. Bernard Academy for high school and later graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.

In addition to her novels, Patchett has written four books of nonfiction, including Truth & Beauty, What Now?, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, and These Precious Days. Her first children's book, Lambslide, was published in 2019, followed by Escape Goat in 2020.

Among her numerous accolades are the National Humanities Medal, England’s Women’s Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2011, she opened Parnassus Books in Nashville and has become a prominent advocate for independent booksellers.

In 2012, Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Her works have been translated into over thirty languages, and she actively engages with readers through her blog, Notes from Ann, and social media.