Alumni at a Glance: Elizabeth Evans ’75
After graduating from Cornell, Elizabeth Evans ’75 started graduate school at the University of Iowa, where she received her masters of fine arts (M.F.A.) from the Writers Workshop. Today, she’s a fiction writer who has published six books: “As Good As Dead,” “Rowing in Eden,” “Carter Clay,” “The Blue Hour,” “Suicide’s Girlfriend,” and “Locomotion.”
Majors: Art and English
Resides in: Tucson, Arizona
Photo by Steve Reitz
Novelist Ann Patchett has described Evans as “a fearless writer. After reading this novel [‘Carter Clay’], I’m convinced that there’s nothing that she can’t do.”
Her accolades include the Iowa Author Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the James Michener Fellowship, and a Lila Wallace Award. She’s been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the International Retreat for Writers at Hawthornden Castle, Wurlitzer, and other foundations.
Evans is Professor Emeritus for the Program in Creative Writing at the University of Arizona. She frequently teaches for Queens University of Charlotte’s low-residency M.F.A. in Creative Writing.
In addition to all of these achievements, Evans said she’s been married to a “great guy for 39 years” and has “two wonderful daughters.”
She remembers fondly time spent with her roommate. “The night Michelle Bernard—still my dear, dear friend—and I huddled together in our room in Dows Hall for our first great talk.”
As for her advice to students considering Cornell, she says if you’re looking for a warm, supportive atmosphere, Cornell is the right place for you.
