Dorothy Bryant is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 novelist, playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

, essayist and feminist writer.

Bryant is known for her mystical, feminist and fantastic novels and plays

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 that traverse the space between the real world and her character's inner psyche

Psyche (psychology)

The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...

 or soul

Soul

A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...

. Her book The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You

The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You

The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You is the second novel by Dorothy Bryant. It deals with the idea of how the negation of dreams as a guide to life affects the real world...

 was described by Alice Walker

Alice Walker

Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...

 as "One of my favorite books in all the world".

Personal and professional life

Dorothy Bryant was born in San Francisco in 1930, second daughter of Joe and Giuditta Calvetti, both born in Balangero, a factory town near Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, and brought to the USA as children. Bryant became the first in her family to graduate from college, and she earned her living teaching (high school and college) until 1976. She began writing in 1960 and has since published a dozen books of fiction and non-fiction. Her plays have been performed in the Bay Area and beyond.

Fiction

• Ella Price's Journal (1972, J.B. Lippincott, reprinted 1973 by Signet Books)
• The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You
  The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You
  The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You is the second novel by Dorothy Bryant. It deals with the idea of how the negation of dreams as a guide to life affects the real world...
  
  (1976)
• Miss Giardino (1976)
• The Garden of Eros (1979)
• Killing Wonder (1981)
• A Day in San Francisco (1983)
• Confessions of Madame Psyche (1986) (American Book Award
  American Book Award
  The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
  
   winner 1987)
• The Test (1991)
• Anita, Anita (1994)
• The Berkeley Pit (2007)

Non-fiction

• Writing a Novel (1983)
• Myths to Lie By (2000)
• Literary Lynching: When Readers Censor Writers (online)

Plays

• Dear Master (1991)
• Tea with Mister Hardy (1992)
• The Panel (1994)
• Posting for Gaugain (1997)
• The Trial of Cornelia Connelly (2003)
• Sad But Glorious Days (2003)
• Eros in Love (2006)

External links