Audrey Niffenegger
A visual artist who penned a genre-defying bestseller, she masterfully wove love, loss, and time travel into a haunting modern myth.
Born 1963 (age 63)·American writer, artist and academic·Birthday: June 13·Baby Boomers
Biography
Audrey Niffenegger approached storytelling from the outside in, first as a visual artist and printmaker before turning to novels. Her debut, 'The Time Traveler's Wife,' emerged not from literary circles but from a graphic novel idea, fused with her fascination with time and the melancholy of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The 2003 book, a meticulously structured love story about a man with a genetic disorder that causes involuntary time travel and his artist wife, became a word-of-mouth phenomenon. Its success was unexpected, catapulting the Chicago-based art professor into the literary spotlight. She followed it with 'Her Fearful Symmetry,' another ghostly tale set in London's Highgate Cemetery, and the graphic novel 'The Night Bookmobile,' further exploring her themes of obsession and ephemeral connections. Niffenegger's work remains distinguished by its artistic precision and its ability to find profound emotion within fantastical constraints.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Audrey was born in 1963, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Audrey Was Born
The biggest hits of 1963
#1 Movie
Cleopatra
Best Picture
Tom Jones
#1 TV Show
Beverly Hillbillies
Audrey's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1963Born
JFK assassinated in Dallas; Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,100Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Sugar Shack" — Jimmy Gilmer & The FireballsBest Picture: Tom Jones
1968Started school
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassinated
Gas: $0.34/galHome: $14,950Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Hey Jude" — The BeatlesBest Picture: Oliver!
1976Became a teenager
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1979Could drive
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1981Could vote
MTV launches; first Space Shuttle flight; AIDS identified
Gas: $1.31/galHome: $52,300Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Bette Davis Eyes" — Kim CarnesBest Picture: Chariots of Fire
1984Turned 21
Apple Macintosh introduced
Gas: $1.13/galHome: $59,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"When Doves Cry" — PrinceBest Picture: Amadeus
1993Turned 30
European Union officially established
Gas: $1.11/galHome: $86,600Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"I Will Always Love You" — Whitney HoustonBest Picture: Schindler's List
2003Turned 40
US invades Iraq; Human Genome Project completed
Gas: $1.59/galHome: $146,000Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"In Da Club" — 50 CentBest Picture: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2013Turned 50
Edward Snowden reveals NSA surveillance programs
Gas: $3.53/galHome: $152,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Thrift Shop" — Macklemore & Ryan LewisBest Picture: 12 Years a Slave
2023Turned 60
ChatGPT goes mainstream; Israel-Hamas war begins
Gas: $3.52/galHome: $361,600Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Joe Biden"Flowers" — Miley CyrusBest Picture: Oppenheimer
2026Age 63 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Her debut novel, 'The Time Traveler's Wife,' sold over seven million copies worldwide and was translated into over 40 languages.
- The novel was adapted into a major 2009 feature film starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, and later into a HBO television series.
- She is a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the Columbia College Chicago.
- Published the visual novel 'The Night Bookmobile,' originally serialized in The Guardian.
Did You Know?
She is a founding member of the writing collective Text 3, formerly known as the Text and Image Lab at Columbia College.
Niffenegger originally conceived 'The Time Traveler's Wife' as a graphic novel.
She creates artist's books, which are limited-edition artworks in book form, often housed in museum collections.
“"I'm interested in the way that people are trapped in their own personalities and in their own selves."”
