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Anne Rice Dies: ‘Interview With The Vampire’ Author Was 80

By Tom Grater

Anne Rice Dead obituary
Anne Rice / AP

Anne Rice, the American writer whose Interview with the Vampire sold more than 150 million copies, has died. She was 80.

“The immensity of our family’s grief cannot be overstated,” he wrote. “As my mother, her support for me was unconditional — she taught me to embrace my dreams, reject conformity and challenge the dark voices of fear and self-doubt.”

Born on October 4, 1941, in New Orleans, Rice initially struggled to find popularity, with her debut novel Interview with the Vampire receiving mixed reviews upon its release in 1976. The book, penned while she was grieving the loss of her daughter to leukemia, since has been reappraised as a key text in the modern vampire genre and spawned 11 sequels, collectively known as The Vampire Chronicles.

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