Twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature, Joyce Carol Oates is one of America's most prolific, serious writers. She is the author of many distinguished books in several genres, all published within the past twenty-five years. Besides novels and short story collections, she has published volumes of poetry, plays, literary criticism, and her classic book-length essay On Boxing. John Gardner has called her "one of the greatest writers of our time."

Her writing has earned her much praise and many awards, including the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in short fiction, the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the O'Henry Prize for Continued Achievement in the Short Story, and the National Book Award for her novel, Them. In 1978 she became a member of the American Academy-Institute. She has also been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award, The National Book Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize.