Anne Fortier

Anne Fortier was born in Denmark in 1971 and grew up in the windblown town of Holstebro in Western Jutland. Thanks to her mother, Birgit Malling Eriksen, Anne developed a love of music and languages at an early age and nourished a secret dream of becoming the next Maria Callas. Unfortunately for Anne – and fortunately for her readers – God gave her a singing voice that is just barely fit for the shower. Turning to a more rewarding pursuit, Anne began writing her first novel at age 11 and submitted her first manuscript to a Danish publisher at 13. Much to her horror, her mother keeps copies of all her early manuscripts and occasionally – when Anne is being difficult – threatens to make them public. It was a trip to Tunisia in 1986 – with her mother, of course – that made Anne realize that adventure can be found in the real world, and that a writer needs to travel in order to create stories worth reading. Now, 30 years later, Anne is finally ready to share her long-time love of Tunisia and the Sahara Desert with her readers in her new book, THE LOST SISTERHOOD. Clearly, it took Anne quite a while to get all those wild ideas funneled into manageable volumes. Her first novel, HYRDER PAA BJERGET, was published in Denmark in 2005 and is just about as autobiographical as Anne ever wants a book to be. It is also the last book she ever wrote in Danish. Her New York Times bestseller, JULIET, came out in 2010 and has so far been published in over 30 countries worldwide. It should surprise no one that the inspiration for the book came from a trip to Siena with Anne’s mother, who is still Anne’s go-to authority on all things Italian. Before she became a published author, Anne emigrated to the United States to work in film. She co-produced the Emmy-winning documentary FIRE AND ICE: THE WINTER WAR OF FINLAND AND RUSSIA and holds a Ph.D. in the History of Ideas from Aarhus University, Denmark. Anne currently lives in Quebec with her family, and occasionally, while doing the dishes, delights the local coyote population with her Verdi-arias.