By Barry Wayne Veinotte

nne Rice was born in Mercy Hospital, New Orleans, on October 4th, 1941. She was the second of four daughters born to Katherine and Howard O'Brien, and was given the name Howard Allen O'Brien, after her father. Mr. O'Brien had been ridiculed as a youth for having a "feminine" name, and suffered taunting and teasing by his peers. Apparently this played a part in the naming of their daughter.

In her own words (from "You Asked, Anne Answered" in the Official Anne Rice Web Site) "Well, my birth name is Howard Allen because apparently my mother thought it was a good idea to name me Howard. My father's name was Howard, she wanted to name me after Howard, and she thought it was a very interesting thing to do. She was a bit of a Bohemian, a bit of mad woman, a bit of a genius, and a great deal of a great teacher. And she had the idea that naming a woman Howard was going to give that woman an unusual advantage in the world."

Anne became "Anne" on her first day of school, when a nun asked her what her name was. She blurted out "Anne" immediately, and her mother, who was with her, let it go without correcting her, knowing how self-conscious her daughter was of her real name.

Anne's mother died in July of 1956 when Anne was 14 years old. Her father eventually remarried and in 1958 he was transferred by the postal service for which he worked, to Richardson, Texas. Anne, then 16, was extremely opposed to the move, but it was there, at Richardson High School, that she met the man she would eventually marry - Stan Rice.

Anne met Stan in journalism class. They were both new to Richardson, Stan having transferred from Dallas, and being a year younger than Anne, a junior. He moved to sit next to Anne, from the front of the class where he had been sitting, telling her that he was tired of being up there alone. It wasn't until that summer, after Anne had graduated, that her and Stan began to date.

In the fall of 1959 Anne began classes at Texas Woman's College in Denton, while Stan was in his senior year of high school. In 1960 Stan went on to Denton but Anne had decided to move to San Francisco, making their contact consist solely of correspondence. The relationship survived, and in 1961 Anne received a telegram from Stan proposing marriage, and on October 14th of the same year, they were married in Texas, shortly after moving to San Francisco to settle in Haight-Ashbury.

The Rice's took courses at San Francisco State University, and both earned bachelors degrees in 1964. Stan had already been receiving recognition for his poetry, and started the doctorate program at UC Berkeley, but dropped out and returned to SFSU. Anne earned a BA in Political Science and Creative Writing, and in 1965 published a short story in Transfer called "October 4, 1948."

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In 1966 Anne found out that she was pregnant. The baby girl was born on September 21, 1966, and they named her Michele. At this time the Rice's were doing well, Stan teaching at SFSU and receiving grants and recognition for his poetry, while Anne was again published in Transfer, and began to attend Graduate School. In 1969 they moved to Berkeley, where "Interview With The Vampire" would be born, in the form of a short story. Anne also wrote a novella "Katherine and Jean" which publishers began to show interest in.

Anne started the PhD Program at Berkeley, but became dissatisfied and returned to SFSU to finish her masters in creative writing.

In 1970 Michele was diagnosed with leukemia. Anne somehow managed to look after her daughter and finish her masters degree, earning it in 1972.(her thesis - "Katherine and Jean" orals: Shakespeare and Hemmingway)

Stan received $5000.00 from the National Endowment for the Arts, and they took Michele to Disneyland. On August 5th, 1972, Michele died of her disease. The Rice's spent the next few years in an alcoholic haze, mourning their loss. In 1973 Anne turned the "Interview With The Vampire" into a novel in a five week period. It was rejected when she submitted it, but in 1974, while attending a Writer's Conference in Squaw Valley, Anne met agent Phyllis Seidel, who agreed to represent her. Interview was subsequently sold to Vicky Wilson at Knoph. In 1976 "Interview With The Vampire" was published, the film rights being sold to Paramount for $150,000.00, with a ten year option.

Following the publication of "Interview With The Vampire," Stan and Anne did some international traveling, going to place such as Europe, Egypt, and Port au Prince. In 1977 Anne found she was pregnant again, and on March 11th, 1979, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy - Christopher.

Anne continued to write in various forms, and they moved back to New Orleans in 1989, Stan retiring from his position as chair of the Creative Writing department at San Francisco State University. They bought a house at 1239 First Street in the Garden District, and still live there at present.