Fun Facts Friday: May Sarton

May Sarton (3 May, 1912 – 16 July, 1995) was a writer, poet, journalist and memoirist. She is remembered for her excellent journals and memoirs.

Eleanore Marie Sarton was born in Wondelgem, Belgium to George and Mabel. George Sarton was a scientist and historian, Mable Eleanor Elwes Sarton was an English artist.
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, German troops invaded Belgium and the family fled to Ipswich England where Mrs. Sarton’s family lived.
The family eventually ended up in Boston, MA where Mr. Sarto had a position at Harvard University.
Eleanore Sarton graduated from Cambridge Latin High School in 1929. She was involved in the theater group but was always writing poetry.
In 1930, the 17-year-old published a series of sonnets, some of which were featured in her first published volume Encounter in April (1937).
Ms. Sarton went to live in Paris for a year, meeting such luminaries as Virginia Woolf, having affairs, and published her first novel The Single Hound.
From 1954 to 1958 Ms. Sarton was living with her partner, Judith Matlack. The couple separated after George Sarton passed away and May Sarton decided to move to Nelson, NH. The relationship was very important to Sarton and she wrote about it in her memory At Seventy.
By 1958 May Sarton was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In 1990, while living in York, Maine, Ms. Sarton had a stroke. She had trouble writing but used a tape recorder to transcribe her work.
May Sarton died of breast cancer in 1995. She left a huge volume of work, 19 novels, 15 nonfiction works, children’s books, plays, and screenplays.