Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley writes book about her hometown St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Jane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize winner, winning the award for her 1991 book "A Thousand Acres". And she is also a St. Louis-native.

The Pulitzer prize-winning author grew up in Webster Groves and attended John Burroughs. But she's never really written about her hometown until now with her latest book "Lucky." which published on April 23.

"I've realized that I have written about Missouri, but I have never written anything about St. Louis," said Smiley to Debbie Monterrey. "I thought 'What an idiot'."

The book "Lucky" is about a girl named Jodie Rattler a star folk musician who rises to fame across changing times. The character Rattler, like Smiley is also from St. Louis and in the book it features plenty of St. Louis references like KMOX, Forest Park, Webster Groves, and the Skinker Debaliviere neighborhood.

Smiley says Rattler living at Skinker was obvious after she was walking in Forest Park when she was in town for her 50-year high school reunion in 2017.

"I went walking on that part of Forest Park and I saw this house on Skinker that was beautiful. It was gold, it had all these wonderful aspects and I said 'Ok if Jodie is going to live anywhere, she was going to live there,'" said Smiley. "I really loved walking in Forest Park on that day, because it looked to me they allowed the west side of the park to go back to a forest-y look and I really loved it. I liked walking down all the streets and realized everything about St. Louis is interesting."

Smiley says Rattler has some parallel to her own life, from Rattler being a folk musician being a nod to her childhood love of listening to folk music when she was growing up.

"When Rattler is with her grandparents, they do a lot of singing around the piano and that's what (me and my grandparents) did when I was growing up," said Smiley. "I would say her life is sort of parallel to mine. Her father is not in her life, but it was for different reason to why my father wasn't in my life."

Smiley says she still has family in St. Louis, with a cousin who lives in Kirkwood helping her make sure to fact check some things about St. Louis.

"I also used him as a source for 'is this going on, is this going on, or is this going on," said Smiley.

"Lucky" published on April 23, and you can purchase the book online . Smiley was a guest on Book Chat with Debbie Monterrey And St. Louis Public Library, which you can find on Facebook .