Fun Facts Friday: Katherine Anne Porter

May 15, 1890 was the birthday of author Callie Porter, later known as Katherine Anne Porter. Ms. Porter was a very prolific writer, which unfortunately we do not hear much about these days.

Books by Katherine Anne Porter*

1) When she was two Porter’s mother died and the family moved in with her paternal grandmother Catherine Anne Porter. Porter later changed her name to honor her loving grandmother.

2) After her grandmother died in 1901 Porter was sent to convent school in New Orleans, LA.

3) At age 16 Porter married for the first time to a 27 year old.

4) She worked as a reporter and a ballad singer.

5) Porter’s first published work, the short fiction story “María Concepcíon” (1922), received almost immediate critical acclaim.

6) Porter married again in 1925 but divorced again soon after.

7) Porter won the Guggenheim Fellowship prize for her 1930 collection “Flowering Judas and Other Stories”.

8 ) Porter lived in Europe from 1931 to 1937 where she married and divorced her third husband.

9) She married again in 1938 and settled in Baton Rouge, LA but died in Maryland in 1980.

10) Porter published 25 stories and one novel “Ship of Fools”, all critically acclaimed, as well as several movie scripts.

Books by Katherine Anne Porter*

Zohar – Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books