She then attended graduate school in Montreal at Sir George Williams University where she received her master of arts in 1973. Annie attended high school in North Carolina and Maine the family also spent time in Vermont and Rhode Island.Īfter graduating high school, Proulx attended the University of Vermont, where she received her bachelor of arts in 1969. During Annie's youth, her father worked in the textile industry, so the family moved all over the country as he advanced his career. Her ancestors had lived in the area of Connecticut for over 350 years as farmers, artists, and mill workers. Author BiographyĪnnie Proulx was born in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1935 to George and Lois Proulx. As Proulx traces the development of the love that grows between these two men and the forces that try to impede that love, she shapes the interplay of desire and denial into a heartbreaking story of loss and endurance. Their quick friendship soon evolves into a strong sexual and emotional union-one that they fear may eventually cost them their lives. They meet as teenagers hired to herd sheep on Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming.

The story chronicles the relationship between Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two men who develop a deep love for each other but who are forced to live separate lives in an intolerant world. When the reviews of Close Range appeared, 'Brokeback Mountain' was consistently singled out for its evocative detail and compelling narrative. Recognizing that it was the strongest story in her collection, Proulx placed it at the end of the book. It also appeared in the 1998 edition of The O. It was first published in the New Yorker in 1998 and subsequently won the magazine's award for fiction that year. Annie Proulx's short story 'Brokeback Mountain' gained a great deal of attention before it was collected into her Close Range: Wyoming Stories in 1999.

Brokeback mountain proulx