Ann Cornelisen

Ann Cornelisen (November 12, 1926 - November 12, 2003) was an American writer who lived and wrote in Italy.

Early life and education Cornelisen was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Ralph White and Ydoine (Rose) Cornelisen, and raised in Chicago. She attended Girl's Latin School in Chicago, Baldwin School at Bryn Mawr, and earned a degree from Vassar College. She was married to Charles W. Cammack III in 1957. Cornelisen documented the lifestyles of the people who lived in remote villages where the church was the dominant social force and secondary education was nonexistent. She took photographs as well as reported on the conditions.

One of her other books is Women of the Shadows, published in 1976. It documents the lives of four women in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy. As their husbands were forced to leave their homes to find work in Northern Italy or Germany, the women were left to cope with the hardships of daily life on their own. Cornelisen's account is unique for its use of her own original photographs, which she included in the book to illustrate the lives of the women she profiled. The book offers an intimate look at the challenges faced by women in Italy’s Mezzogiorno, and the resilience they showed in the face of adversity. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for her work in 1977.

Death and legacy Cornelisen died in Rome, Georgia in 2003. Her work as an aid worker was the inspiration for the American charity worker character in Juliet Grames' novel The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia. After her death Vassar established the Ann Cornelisen Fellowship for Post-Graduate Language Study and the Ann Cornelisen Fellowship for Summer Language Study for Undergraduate Students. Her papers are held by the Vassar College Libraries.