John Hersey (17 June, 1914 – 24 March, 1993) was a prize winning American writer. Mr. Hersey is considered to be one of the earliest practitioners of New Journalism. Books by John Hersey His parents were Protestant missionaries, he was born in Tientsin, China. Mr. Hersey can trace his roots back to William Hersey (Hercy) who was one of the first settlers of Hingham, MA. The family came back to the New York when Mr. Hersey was ten years old. He played football at Yale University where one of his coaches was future President Gerald Ford. Mr. Hersey did his graduate work at the University of Cambridge. In 1937 Mr. Hersey got a summer job was as a private secretary / chauffer for Sinclair Lewis. Mr. Hersey wrote an essay on Time Magazine’s dismal quality, in the autumn of 1937 Time hired him. During World War II, Mr. Hersey covered the fighting in Europe and Asia for Time and Life magazines. He survived four airplane crashes and witnessed the invasion of Sicily. The Secretary of the Navy commanded Mr. Hersey for helping to evacuate wounded soldiers from Guadalcanal. Mr. Hersey’s account of the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on…

Maurice Sendak (10, June, 1928 – 8 May, 2012) was an American writer and illustrator best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are.

Allen Ginsberg (3 June, 1926 – 5 April, 1997) was an American poet known for his controversial poem Howl. Mr. Ginsberg was a leading poet in the Beat Generation of the 1950s. By Harvey W. Cohen – www.harveywallacecohen.com (Original uploaded on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12597693 1) He was born in Newark, NJ. 2) His mother Naomi, a Russian immigrant, suffered from mental illness and died in 1956, two days after getting a lobotomy. 3) Mr. Ginsberg wrote politically themed letters to The New York Times even before he was a teenager. 4) As a freshmen at Columbia University, Mr. Ginsberg met Jack Kerouac, John Clellon Holmes, and William S. Burroughs. 5) In 1949 Mr. Ginsberg was convicted of being an accomplice in a robbery, he pleased insanity to avoid jail time (but had to spent time in a mental health facility). 6) His poem Howl was deemed obscene, however a judge ruled that the poem had merit. See my previous fun facts post about Howl. 7) He coined the phrase “flower power” 8) In 1974 Mr. Ginsberg won the National Book Award foyr The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965-1971. 9) In the 1980s and 1990s Mr. Ginsberg…

Mr. Wouk said that the two most important influences on his life were his grandfather and the United States Navy

Honoré de Balzac (20 May, 1799 – 18 August, 1850) – French novelist and playwright, known for his novels and short fictional stories and his keen eye for detail

The novels of du Maurier rarely end with a happy ending.

Randall Jarrell (6 May, 1914 – 14 October, 1965) was an American poet, writer and children’s author. By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36707992 1) Even though he was born in Nashville, TN, Mr. Jarrell spent most of his childhood in Long Beach, Hollywood, CA. 2) He was a lonely and troubled child, which reflects in his poems. 3) When his parents separated at age 11, Mr. Jarrell lived with his grandparents (on his father’s side) before moving back to Nashville with his mother. 4) Mr. Jarrell was influenced by poets Allen Tate and Robert Penn Warren and especially John Crowe Ransom. 5) During World War II Mr. Jarrell served in the Air Force. 6) He made his reputation as a poet to the general public due to some of his poignant poems about the war. 7) Mr. Jarrell never made it thorough flight training though, and spent most of the war in Illinois and Arizona. 8) He worked as a professor of English at the Women’s College of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. 9) He is the recipient of two Guggenheim fellowships. 10) Tragically, Mr. Jarrell was killed in a car accident in Greensboro, NC. Zohar – Man of…

Bill Blackbeard (28 April, 1926 – 10 March, 2011) was a founder-director of the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, a writer, editor, and comic strip collector. By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31636874 Books in which Bill Blackbeard was involved Reporter Kevin Parker said that Bill Blackbeard “saved the American comic strip—all of them.” Mr. Blackbeard started being taken by comic strips at the age of 12, luckily for him recycling was practically non-existent at the time and people kept old newspapers stacked at home. They were more than happy to give them to him. During World War II, Mr. Blackbeard was part of the 89th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squad, 9th Army and served in Belgium, France and Germany. He used to G.I Bill to study history, English and American lit in Fullerton College, California. Along with his wife Barbara and other volunteers, Mr. Blackbeard pent years clipping comic strips from the old newspapers, arranging them in chronological runs of each strip title, and storing them in filing cabinets. It was estimated in 1990 that Mr. Blackbeard has organized 350,000 Sunday strips and 2.5 million dailies. Comic books did not appeal to Mr. Blackbeard, he thought that Superman was “meretricious dreck”. All…

Henry Fielding (22 April, 1707 – 8 October, 1754) was an dramatist and novelist from England. Mr. Fielding was knwn for this satires and humor. By Unknown – http://www.flickr.com/photos/23239528@N00/2193013977/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7579904 1) Together with his half-brother John, Mr. Fielding, then London’s magistrate, created the Bow Street Runners, London’s first police force. 2) Mr. Fielding studied classical literature at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. 3) His first play, Love in Several Masques, was shown in February 1728 in London, a month before he started his university studies. 4) After he finished his studies, Mr. Fielding worked as a playwright and theater manager. 5) His wife, Charlotte Cradock, whom he married in 1734, was the prototype of Sophia and Amelia, two of his heroines. 6) Charlotte and Henry Fielding had five children together, only one daughter, Henrietta, survived to adulthood.. 7) Mr. Fielding created his comic masterpiece, Tom Jones, in 1749 after the death of his eldest daughter (1742) and beloved wife (1744). 8) Three years after Charlotte passed away, Mr. Fielding married her former maid, Mary Daniel who was pregnant at the time. 9) Mary and Henry Fielding also had five children, three daughters (who died young) and…

E. Y. Harburg (8 April, 1898 – 5 March, 1981) was an American songwriter and book author who is mostly known for his hit songs for Hollywood and Broadway <\p> 1) Born as Isidore Hochberg in New York’s Lower East Side to Jewish immigrants from Russia, he was the youngest of four children (out of 10) who survived to adulthood. 2) His nickname, Yipsel, is Yiddish for squirrel because he was always moving around. 3) He attended high school at Townsend Harris Hall, an experimental school for talented children where he worked at the school newspaper with Ira Gershwin (a fellow student), who later on introduced him to composers and writers. 4) Americana, a 1932 revue, Mr. Harburg worte “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” which was considered to be the anthem of the Depression and an anti-capitalist propgranda. 5) In 1939 Mr. Harburg, along with his long time writing partner Harold Arlen, scored the movie The Wizard of Oz. Mr. Harburg approached the movie as a depression fantasy. 6) The Broadway musical Finian’s Rainbow is considered to be Harburg’s masterpiece. 7) Mr. Harburg was involved in several radical groups (but never of the Communist Party itself) and was blacklisted in…