Joyce Carol Oates was born in New York, on June 16, 1939. Durning the great depression of New York. She started writing when she was young. Later in the years she taught at three colleges the University of Detroit, University of Windsor, and Princeton. She wrote novels and short stories, and most of her writing is about violence and modern society. She writes about issues that are going on now and how people may react or what could happen. Especially in her short of Where have you been? Where are you going? She was also married to a man named Raymond J Smith who has already passed away. She even wrote a story about him and how it affected her. That story is called A Widow's Story.  A story about how she delt with grieving her husband death. Joyce continues publishing and writing stories. She has also won many awards for her spectacular novels and poems (Joyce). She is currently 86 and lives at home with her cat.