By Elodie Barnes | On January 8, 2022 | Updated March 15, 2025 | Comments (0)
Janet Flanner (March 13, 1892 – November 7, 1978) was an American writer and journalist who spent much of her career writing as Paris correspondent for The New Yorker.
Under the pen name Gênet, she authored the magazine’s “Letter from Paris” for almost fifty years.
She was a prominent member of the expatriate community that settled in Paris between two World Wars, and made her home there until 1975, after which she returned to New York. Portrait at right, Janet Flanner in 1940 (National Portrait Gallery).
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By Tami Richards | On December 15, 2021 | Updated October 10, 2024 | Comments (0)
Beverly Cleary (April 12, 1916–March 25, 2021) was an American author of children’s and middle-grade fiction.
Extraordinarily prolific and beloved by young readers worldwide, sales of her books have exceeded 91 million copies, and many are still in print.
Starting with the series featuring Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy in 1950, she went on to create many unforgettable characters, including Ramona Quimby and Ralph S. Mouse. Read More→
By Elodie Barnes | On October 28, 2021 | Updated March 15, 2025 | Comments (1)
Clarice Lispector (December 10, 1920 — December 9, 1977) was one of the foremost Brazilian writers of her generation. Best known for her novels and short stories, almost all of which experiment with form and language, she was also a journalist and wrote several high-profile columns for national newspapers.
Her works have been internationally acclaimed and widely translated, and she has often been placed alongside writers such as Virginia Woolf and James Joyce.
Born Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector, Clarice Lispector was a Ukraine native. Her parents, Mania and Pinkhas Lispector were Jewish emigrants fleeing from the Russian pogroms. Mania gave birth to Clarice as the family made their way to Europe, and from there, to South America.
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By Amy Manikowski | On October 24, 2021 | Updated August 25, 2022 | Comments (2)
Zelda Fitzgerald (July 24, 1900 – March 10, 1948), known for her beauty and personality, made a name for herself as a socialite, novelist, dancer, and painter.
She was far more than merely the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, who called her “the first American flapper.”
Born Zelda Sayre in Montgomery, she was the youngest of the children of a prominent couple: Anthony Dickinson Sayre (an Alabama Supreme Court Justice) and Minnie Buckner Machen Sayre, both descended from unfortunate Confederate roots. Zelda was the youngest of their five children.
Zelda enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and from adolescence on, always made a splash in Montgomery’s social scene. She was the belle of country club dances who flaunted conventions by smoking, drinking, and flirting. She starred in ballet recitals, in which she displayed talent.
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By Anna Fiore | On October 18, 2021 | Updated August 19, 2022 | Comments (2)
Marguerite Henry (April 13, 1902 — November 26, 1977), was a beloved American author of animal stories for children. She authored more than fifty children’s books, capturing especially the dreams and fantasies of horse-loving children everywhere.
Many of Marguerite Henry’s books are based on true stories of horses (and occasionally other animals), and have since been translated into twelve languages. Her best-known novels are Misty of Chincoteague (the basis for the 1961 movie Misty) and its sequels.
King of the Wind (1948) is another of her most popular novels, recognized as “the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children,” by the American Library Association. Both it and Misty of Chincoteague won the highest accolade a children’s book can garner, the Newbery Medal Award; King of the Wind won the Young Reader’s Choice Award in 1951 as well.
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