I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and girlhood were spent in upstate New York, in the country north of Buffalo and West of Rochester. So this part of New York state is very familiar to me and, with its economic difficulties, has become emblematic of much of American life.

Together the couple founded The Ontario Review a literary magazine in 1974 on which Oates served as associate editor. Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16 1938) is an American author.

Oates publiJoyce Carol Oatesd her first book in 1963 and has since publiJoyce Carol Oatesd over forty novels as well as a number of plays and novellas and many volumes of short stories poetry and nonfiction. She has won many awards for her writing including the National Book Award for her novel them (1969) two O. Henry Awards and the National Humanities Medal.