Portrait of Alice McDermott

Birthday profile

Alice McDermott

Alice McDermott, American novelist

Born
June 27, 1953
Age in 2026
73
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1953

About Alice McDermott

Alice McDermott (born June 27, 1953) is an American writer and university professor. She is the author of nine novels and a collection of essays. For her 1998 novel Charming Billy she won an American Book Award and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the International Dublin Literary Award and the Orange Prize. That Night, At Weddings and Wakes, and After This were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Her most recent novel, Absolution was awarded the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. From 2002 to 2019, McDermott was the Johns Hopkins University's Richard A. Macksey Professor of the Humanities.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Alice McDermott timeline

  1. For her 1998 novel Charming Billy she won an American Book Award and the U.S.
  2. For her 1998 novel Charming Billy she won an American Book Award and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the International Dublin Literary Award and the Orange Prize.

The world when Alice McDermott was born

Alice McDermott was born in 1953. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1953

  • #1 song"Doggie in the Window" – Patti Page
  • Top movieFrom Here to Eternity
  • Top TV showI Love Lucy
  • Best-selling bookCasino Royale – Ian Fleming

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentEdmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summit Mount Everest
  • Top headlineCoronation of Queen Elizabeth II
  • Technology milestoneWatson and Crick discover the structure of DNA
  • Defining fadTV dinners
  • Notable inventionTV dinner
  • World population2.68 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonMinneapolis Lakers (NBA)
  • U.S. population159.0M

1953 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Alice McDermott's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19532026
Gas$0.29$3.45/gal
Average home$9,500$435,000
Average income$5,900$67,500
Minimum wage$0.75$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.60$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population159.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.