Eudora Welty

Author profile

born

in Jackson, Mississippi, The United States

April 13, 1909

died

July 23, 2001

gender

female

website

http://www.eudorawelty.org/

genre

Literature & Fiction, Art & Photojournalism

influences

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

About this author

edit data

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...more 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 café 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.

Excerpted and adopted from Wikipedia.(less)

combine editions
Eudora Welty's Books

Average rating: 3.89 · 18,882 ratings · 1,764 reviews · 94 distinct works · Similar authors

	The Collected Stories 4.29 of 5 stars 4.29 avg rating — 3,260 ratings — published 1980 — 17 editions	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 Optimist's Daughter 3.44 of 5 stars 3.44 avg rating — 3,608 ratings — published 1972 — 26 editions	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 4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 avg rating — 1,425 ratings — published 1983 — 17 editions	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 3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 avg rating — 1,190 ratings — published 1946 — 16 editions	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. 4.32 of 5 stars 4.32 avg rating — 504 ratings — published 1941 — 2 editions	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 3.65 of 5 stars 3.65 avg rating — 597 ratings — published 1954 — 11 editions	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 3.65 of 5 stars 3.65 avg rating — 544 ratings — published 1942 — 10 editions	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 3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 448 ratings — published 1947 — 10 editions	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) 4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 avg rating — 341 ratings — published 1941 — 5 editions	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
	Thirteen Stories by Eudora Welty, Ruth M. Vande Kieft (Editor) 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 297 ratings — published 1965 — 4 editions	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

1,250 people liked it

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

tags: memory, photography

304 people liked it

“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

266 people liked it

See all Eudora Welty's quotes »

Polls

What do you recommend for April? There are some authors and then there are some themes.

Emily Brontë;Charlotte Brontë; Anne Brontë

2 votes 28.6%

Anne McCaffrey

1 vote 14.3%

Tom Clancy

1 vote 14.3%

Eudora Welty

1 vote 14.3%

A novel that has April, Showers, Flowers, Muddy or Rain in the title (essentially anything to do with April, Showers, Flowers, etc).

1 vote 14.3%

A novel that is set in Paris, as Paris is beautiful in the Springtime.

1 vote 14.3%

Jim Morrison's poetry

0 votes 0.0%

William Shakespeare

0 votes 0.0%

Henry James

0 votes 0.0%

A novel that somehow involves Easter (religious or secular) themes!

0 votes 0.0%

7 total votes

comments and details

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Next Best Boo...: please recommend genius works by women authors	42	577	Sep 13, 2009 08:51am
The Book Addicts!: National Book Award 2009	6	114	Nov 23, 2009 02:30pm
10,000 Pages in 2010: James' 10,000	24	66	Jun 10, 2010 05:07pm
The Next Best Boo...: What's your favorite female author or favorite book by a woman?	131	905	Jul 02, 2010 02:13pm
Reading with Style: 20.5 - Freedom Season	32	72	Oct 02, 2010 02:18pm
Reading with Style: RwS Completed Tasks	927	236	Dec 01, 2010 06:41am
Challenge: 50 Books: Lauli's 50 books in 2010	88	204	Dec 30, 2010 05:18pm
The 104 Book Chal...: April's 2011 Reads	10	26	Feb 11, 2011 07:19am
The Seasonal Read...: Winter Challenge 2010-2011 Completed Tasks (do not delete any posts)	2596	733	Feb 28, 2011 09:05pm
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS)	2898	796	May 31, 2011 09:01pm

More…

Eudora's Fans (180)

Eudora Welty

Author profile

combine editionsEudora Welty's Books

Quotes by Eudora Welty

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Eudora Welty's Books