Southeast: Region Six
Algren, Nelson
March 28, 1909 – May 9, 1981
Place of Birth: Detroit, MI
Biography:
Nelson Algren was born to Gerson Abraham (a garage mechanic) and Goldie (candy store owner) Algren in Detroit, MI. Algren was the youngest of three siblings and lived with his family in a poor immigrant neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. He graduated from Chicago’s public schools in 1928 and in 1931 graduated with a B.A. in journalism from the University of Illinois right during the Great Depression. He went south in hopes of working for a newspaper, and ended up with many different jobs, including being a door-to-door salesman. In 1933 he worked at a gas station in Rio Hondo, Texas and wrote his first short story, So Help Me, which was published in Story magazine. This led to a contract for his first novel, Somebody in Boots. In 1939 Algren moved back to Chicago and worked for the Chicago Board of Health and also was a co-editor for The New Anvil. He published several short stories and contributed to the W.P.A. Illinois Writer’s Project. He married Amanda Kontowicz in 1937, but the two divorced, re-married, and divorced again. His second book, Never Come Morning, was published in 1942 before Algren enlisted in the U.S. army in 1942, during WWII. During this experience he wrote several short stories for magazines such as Noble Savage and Esquire. After the war Algren published many books. His breakthrough novel, The Man with the Golden Arm, published in 1949, won the first National Book Award for fiction in 1950. It was later made into a film, starring Frank Sinatra. Algren married Betty Ann in 1965 and got divorced her two years later. He regularly wrote a column for the Chicago Free Press and taught creative writing classes at both Iowa and Florida universities, but struggled with heavy drinking and gambling. Algren liked to grapple with tough subjects, and vividly painted Chicago’s overlooked urban life with including drunks, pimps, prostitutes, and other low-life figures in his novels. He moved to Paterson, New Jersey and wrote his fourth Novel The Devil’s Stocking which was published after his death in 1983. In September of 1980 he moved to Long Island and died of a heart attack on May 9, 1981.
Selected Works:
- Somebody in Boots (1935)
- Never Come Morning (1942)
- The Man with the Golden Arm (1949)
- A Walk on the Wild Side (1956)
- Notes from a Sea Diary: Hemingway All the Way (1965)
- The Last Carousel (1973)
- The Devil’s Stocking (1983)
Awards:
- 1947 National Institute of Arts and Letters Fellowship>
- 1950 Newberry Library Fellowship
- 1950 National Book Award
- 1974 National Institute of Arts and Letters of Merit
- 1982 Fiction contest established in his name by Chicago Magazine
- 1983 P.E.N./Nelson Algren Fiction Award begun in his memory by P.E.N. American Center
Critical Reception:
Algren’s first book, Somebody in Boots, received little success during the Great Depression, selling only 750 copies. Algren had better success with The Man with the Golden Arm, winning the National Book Award for fiction in 1950, and having the book turned into a movie. His book Chicago, The City On The Make, was disapproved by the Chicago Chamber of Congress because Alger’s specialized on showing the rough side of the city instead of its successful business enterprises. Algen’s comic novel, A Walk on the Wild Side was declared a master piece.
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Algren spent most of his life outside of Michigan and was greatly influenced by his family and immigrant neighborhood in Chicago.
Arnow, Harriette Simpson
July 7, 1908 - March 21, 1986
Place of Birth: Wayne County, KY
Place of Principle Residence: Ann Arbor, MI
Biography:
Harriette Simpson Arnow was born to Mollie and Elias Simpson in Wayne County, Kentudcky in 1908. As a young girl she loved to read and began writing stories and poems. Although she loved English, she decided to major in science at the University of Louisville, graduating in 1930. After a short stint in teaching, Arnow moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to focus on her writing. She supported herself working as a waitress, a library clerk, and an assistant for the Federal Writer’s Project and in 1936 published a highly successful novel entitled Mountain Park. Arnow met and married Harold Arnow, a newspaper reporter, in 1939 and the two moved to a farm in the Daniel Boone Forest where they worked as farmers and writers. In 1944 Arnold moved with her husband to Michigan, where Harold got a job as a reporter for The Detroit News. Fifteen years after Mountain Park was published, Arnold wrote and released her second novel, Hunter’s Horn, a 1949 best seller and a Fiction Book Club selection. Her most successful novel, The Dollmaker, was published in 1954 and was a best seller for thirty-one weeks and received second place in the National Book Awards, and a Friends of American Writers award. In addition to her books, Arnow wrote many articles and pamphlets and instructed in the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop. She had two children, Marcella and Thomas, and died on March 21, 1986.
Selected Works
- Mountain Path (1936)
- Hunter’s Horn (1949)
- The Dollmaker (1954)
- The Weedkiller’s Daughter (1970)
- Old Burnside (1977)
Awards:
- 1955 Runner up, National Book Award
- 1955 Honorary Degree, Albion College
- 1955 Berea College Centinnel Award
- 1955 Friends of American Writers Award
- 1955 Women’s Home Companion Silver Distaff Award
- 1961 Commendation from Tennessee Historical Commission
- 1961 Award of Merit of American Association for State and Local History
- 1962 Tennessee Historical Quarterly prize for the best article of the year
- 1975 Cranbrook Writers Guild Award
- 1983 Inducted into Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame when living in Ann Arbor
- 1984 Mark Twain Award, Michigan State University
- n/a Mid-America Award for Distinguished Contributions to Midwestern Literature
Critical Reception:
Arnold received many awards for her writing, including the Mark Twain Award from Michigan State University and an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History.
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Arnow spent most of her life on a farm near Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her most famous book, The Dollmaker, is about a poverty-ridden Kentucky family forced to move to Detroit to make a living.
Arrathoon, Leigh Adelaide
November 30, 1942 -
Place of Birth: Manhattan, NY
Place of Principle Residence: Rochester, MI
Biography:
Leigh Adelaide Arrathoon was born to Henry Elkin and Peggy Walles in Manhattan, New York. For one year she attended Centre d’art dramatique, a New York French Acting School, with a full tuition scholarship in 1957 to represent Forest Hills High School. She received her AB in French and Spanish from Hunter College Park Avenue in 1963 and enrolled in summer school at the Universities of Geneva, Lausanne, and Lille at Boulogne sur Mer, between 1961 and 1963 to study French language, literature, and culture. In 1966 and 1968 Arrathoon got her MA in French literature and Spanish literature respectively, and her MA and PhD in French Medieval Language and Literature in 1975. She was one of the first four women admitted to graduate school at Stanford. Arrathoon has worked as a teacher at many schools as a French, Spanish, or medieval literature teacher at schools including Princeton University and Oakland University. Many of her stories and articles have appeared in publications like The South Hill Gazette, Verses Magazine, and The Dana Literary Society. Ball State University forum nominated her article “The Two Saras of Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale” for the Pushcart prize. She has published a seven-book series about Michigan and short historical fictions for children, as well as historical novels for young adults. One of her historical novels, Summer of the Bear, won the Michigan State History Award.
Selected Works:
- The Lady of Bergi (1984)
- Mirror of Love (1991)
- Great Places: Jody’s Michigan Adventures (1999)
- The Summer of the Bear (2002)
Awards:
- 2001 Appeared on Michigan Magazine
- 2007 Michigan State History Award
- n/a nominated for Pushcart Prize
Critical Reception:
Arrathoon’s work on medieval history, literature, and poetics has received academic attention, as demonstrated in her nomination for the Pushcart Prize for her article “The Two Saras of Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale.” In addition, her historically researched children’s novels have been well received, including a Michigan State History Award in 2007.
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Arrathoon has published several books of children’s stories about Michigan, including a seven-book series entitled Jody’s Michigan Adventures, focusing on different locations like Detroit, Greenfield Village, and Mackinac Island. Her work won the Michigan State History Award in 2007.
Baker, Ray Stannard
April 17, 1870 - July 12, 1946
Place of Birth: Lansing, MI
Biography:
Ray Stannard Baker was born to Joseph Stannard and Alice Baker in 1870. He achieved a B.S. at Michigan State University in 1889 and briefly studied Law and Literature at the University of Michigan. From 1892 to 1897 Baker was a reporter for the Chicago Daily Record, and then moved on to McClure Syndicate as manager in 1898. It was at this publication that Baker earned the reputation of being a prominent “muckraker” along with Ida Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens. During this time Baker also published children stories for Youth’s Companion along with a nine volume series of stories about rural living in America under the pen name of David Grayson. Troubled with the hard-hitting journalism in McClure, Baker left the magazine in 1906 to start his own publication called American Magazine. In 1908 Baker became the first well-known journalist to examine America’s social divide by writing the book Following the Color Line, which enjoyed great success. After supporting President Theodore Roosevelt, Baker experimented with socialism before supporting the candidacy of Woodrow Wilson in 1912. The two men struck a close friendship and in 1918 Wilson sent Baker to Europe to study the war situation. When it came to peace negotiations, Wilson appointed Baker as his press secretary at Versailles. Baker published fifteen volumes about Wilson and internationalism, including an eight-volume biography on Wilson, the last two of which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1940. Baker died of heard attack in 1946 in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Selected Works:
- Seen in Germany (1901)
- Following the Color Line; an Account of Negro Citizenship in the American Democracy (1908)
- Adventures in Friendship (1910)
- Woodrow Wilson and World Settlement (1922)
- American Chronicle (1945)
Awards:
- Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography
- Contemporary American Literature
- Pulitzer Prize for Biography, for Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters
Critical Reception:
Starting with his years as a muckraker, Baker became well known for his journalism and stories. After working closely with Woodrow Wilson, Baker was placed in a position of trust and took over important responsibilities such as being press secretary at Versailles and editing the President’s papers. Wilson once said, “I would rather have your [Baker’s] interpretation than that of anyone else I know.”
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Baker received his education in Michigan,
Balducci, Carolyn
Feb. 13, 1946 –
Place of Birth: Pelham, NY
Place of Principal Residence: Ann Arbor, MI
Biography:
Carolyn Feleppa Balducci was born in Pelham, NY to Ernest and Rosaria Feleppa. She first got her interest in writing through art, being both an avid reader and an artist. During her education at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in Purchase, NY she wavered between focusing on studio art and English. In the end, she chose studio art, but her interest in writing lived on. “As electives, I took a couple of creative writing courses,” Balducci said. “My best marks were in The History of the English Language — go figure!” After graduation Balducci taught Creative Writing at the University of Michigan. She became interested in theater and started translating plays, as well as writing her own for university productions. Years later Balducci felt the need to become more involved in her hometown, Montauk, and took up the job of program director for the Montauk library. Her job included organizing local actors to do dramatic readings, a task that required catering plays to the interest of the community as well as using the talents of acting companies to their best advantage. One of her translated plays, In Times of War by David Alan Moore, was performed by Stage Left in Chicago. Balducci has written books, articles, poems, plays, and screenplays. Currently she focuses her time on writing stage plays and screenplays.
Selected works:
- Margaret Fuller, A Life of Passion and Defiance (1991)
- A Self-Made Woman: the Life of Nobel Prize Winner Grazia Deledda (1975)
- Earwax (1972)
- Giovanni the Fearless (1971)
Awards:
- ALA Notable Book Award
- S.I.A.E. commendation for contributions to Italian theater in America
- Grants from Michigan Council for the Arts and Ohio Program in the Humanities
- American Library Association ‘Guest Editor’
- Mademoiselle Magazine ‘Who’s Who’
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Working at University of Michigan sparked an interest in Balducci to get involved in writing and translating dramatic works, an occupation she continues today.