Eudora Welty (Author of The Optimist's Daughter)

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Eudora Welty

Born

in Jackson, Mississippi, The United States

April 13, 1909

Died

July 23, 2001

Website

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Art & Photojournalism

Influences

Anton Chekhov, Robert Penn Warren, William Faulkner, Walker Percy, Vir ...more

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Eudora Alice Welty was an award-winning American author who wrote short stories and novels about the American South. Her book The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America.

Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and lived a significant portion of her life in the city's Belhaven neighborhood, where her home has been preserved. She was educated at the Mississippi State College for Women (now called Mississippi University for Women), the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Columbia Business School. While at Columbia University, where she was the captain of the women's polo Eudora Alice Welty was an award-winning American author who wrote short stories and novels about the American South. Her book The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America.

Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and lived a significant portion of her life in the city's Belhaven neighborhood, where her home has been preserved. She was educated at the Mississippi State College for Women (now called Mississippi University for Women), the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Columbia Business School. While at Columbia University, where she was the captain of the women's polo team, Welty was a regular at Romany Marie's caf茅 in 1930.

During the 1930s, Welty worked as a photographer for the Works Progress Administration, a job that sent her all over the state of Mississippi photographing people from all economic and social classes. Collections of her photographs are One Time, One Place and Photographs.

Welty's true love was literature, not photography, and she soon devoted her energy to writing fiction. Her first short story, "Death of a Traveling Salesman," appeared in 1936. Her work attracted the attention of Katherine Anne Porter, who became a mentor to her and wrote the foreword to Welty's first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green, in 1941. The book immediately established Welty as one of American literature's leading lights and featured the legendary and oft-anthologized stories "Why I Live at the P.O.," "Petrified Man," and "A Worn Path." Her novel, The Optimist's Daughter, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

In 1992, Welty was awarded the Rea Award for the Short Story for her lifetime contributions to the American short story, and was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, founded in 1987. In her later life, she lived near Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, where, despite her fame, she was still a common sight among the people of her hometown.
Eudora Welty died of pneumonia in Jackson, Mississippi, at the age of 92, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson.

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Combine Editions
Eudora Welty鈥檚 books

Average rating: 3.81 · 219,547 ratings · 16,278 reviews · 242 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	The Optimist's Daughter 3.52 avg rating — 14,949 ratings — published 1972 — 105 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Collected Stories 4.20 avg rating — 8,241 ratings — published 1980 — 56 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One Writer's Beginnings 4.07 avg rating — 4,033 ratings — published 1983 — 50 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Delta Wedding 3.61 avg rating — 3,754 ratings — published 1946 — 45 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ponder Heart 3.63 avg rating — 2,212 ratings — published 1954 — 56 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Robber Bridegroom 3.50 avg rating — 1,591 ratings — published 1942 — 51 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Curtain of Green and Other Stories by Eudora Welty, Katherine Anne Porter (Introduction) 4.01 avg rating — 1,237 ratings — published 1941 — 43 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Worn Path 3.69 avg rating — 1,304 ratings — published 1941 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Golden Apples 3.80 avg rating — 1,218 ratings — published 1949 — 51 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Why I Live at the P.O. 4.14 avg rating — 1,048 ratings — published 1941 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Eudora Welty…

Quotes by Eudora Welty (?)

“All serious daring starts from within.”
― Eudora Welty, On Writing

tags: daring

1409 likes

“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.”
― Eudora Welty

tags: memory, photography

622 likes

“Indeed, learning to write may be part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading.”
― Eudora Welty, On Writing

tags: devotion, inspirational, learning, reading, writing

433 likes

See all Eudora Welty's quotes »

Polls

What shall we read in October, 2023? Books published in or before 1990.

A Curtain of Green and Other Stories, by Eudora Welty

18 votes 29.5%

Lancelot, by Walker Percy

16 votes 26.2%

'night, Mother, by Marsha Norman

8 votes 13.1%

The Elementals, by Michael McDowell

7 votes 11.5%

Geronimo Rex, by Barry Hannah

6 votes 9.8%

Cheer Leader, by Jill McCorkle

6 votes 9.8%

61 total votes

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