Fun Facts Friday: Conrad Richter

Conrad Richter (13 October, 1890 – 30 October, 1968) was an award winning American novelist, known for his Pulitzer Prize winning book The Town.

Books by Conrad Richter*

1)      Born in Tremont, PA to a Lutheran minister descended from German colonial immigrants.

2)      Living with his family in small mining towns, young Conrad heard many family stories of the residents which inspired his writing later on.

3)      The author’s formal education ended when he graduated high-school at 15.

4)      By the age of 19, Mr. Richter was already working as the editor of a weekly newspaper. Among his other jobs were a private secretary, jobs in publishing, starting a magazine for young people and as a screen writer for MGM.

5)      He married Harvena Maria Achenbach in 1915, the couple had a girl, Harvena, in 1917.

6)      By the early 1930, Mr. Richter has already published several short stories in pulp magazines and in 1936 published Early Americana and Other Stories which was considered a success.

7)      Even though he mostly wrote novels about American history, he set them in different time periods.

8)      His award winning trilogy, The Awakening Land, which takes place on the Ohio frontier consists of the novels The Trees (1940), The Fields (1946), and The Town (1950).

9)      The Awakening Land was adapted to be a TV show in 1978.

10)   After his death, two short stories collections were published.

Books by Conrad Richter*

Zohar — Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account