Home » Reading & Literature » Women Writers » Anne Rice

Anne Rice

© Megan Drummond

Anne Rice was born Howard Allen O’Brien on October 4, 1941, in New Orleans, LA. She was the second of four daughters born to Katherine and Howard O’Brien. The little girl gave herself the name Anne on her first day of school when a nun asked her what her name was. Anne blurted out the first name that came to mind. Anne’s mother, who was with her at the time, let it go without correction, knowing how self-conscious her daughter was about her given name.

Anne’s childhood was a typical childhood of ‘40s and ‘50s. There were no great losses or tragedies in Anne’s life until she reached early adolescence. Anne’s mother died in the summer of 1956, when Anne was just 14 years old. Anne’s father remarried in 1958 and moved the family to Richardson, Texas.

Like any 16 year old, Anne was extremely opposed to the move. It was here in Texas, at Richardson High School, that Anne met Stan Rice, her future husband. The two met in a journalism class in Anne’s junior year, but did not begin to date until the summer Anne graduated in 1959. In the fall of the same year, Anne began taking classes at Texas Woman’s College in Denton. Stan was finishing his senior year in high school. Stan moved to Denton after his graduation but by then, Anne had decided to move to San Francisco, limiting the contact between them to correspondence only.

In the spring of 1961, Anne received a marriage proposal by telegram from Stan. The two were married on October 14 of the same year in Texas. Anne and Stan moved to San Francisco to settle in the Haight-Ashbury district.

Anne continued taking classes at San Francisco State University and earned her bachelor’s degrees in political science and creative writing in 1964. The following year, Anne had her first short story, "October 4th, 1948", published in Transfer.

In 1966, the Rice’s were doing quite well. Stan was teaching at SFSU and receiving grants and recognition for his poetry. Anne was beginning work on her Masters degree, continuing to get short stories published and was expecting her first child. Michele Rice was born on September 21, 1966. When Michele was three years old, the family moved to Berkeley so that Anne could begin the PhD program in creative writing. Anne soon became dissatisfied with the program at Berkeley and returned to SFSU to finish her Masters.