[2] She received her MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine in 1981.
Her novel, Heroic Measures, was one of titles chosen by Oprah Winfrey's Book Club for 2009 summer reading.
[5] 5 Flights Up, a film adaptation of Heroic Measures starring Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton, was released in the U.S. on May 8, 2015.
She began an affair with her art teacher, Arnold Mesches, when she was 17 and in his class.
Following Arnold's death and in context of the Me Too movement, she re-examined their almost 50 year relationship with a new memoir, Consent.