'All serious daring starts from within'

 

“Writinga story or a novel is one way of discovering sequence in experience, ofstumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writer's own life.”–  Eudora Welty
Welty went on the trail of such writing and self-discovery in the early 1930s, divinginto journalism and photojournalism to help care for her family after herfather died from leukemia.  Ultimately,she became one of America’s premiere writers about the American SouthernExperience.  Honored just before herdeath in 2001 with the Medal of Freedom (for her life’s work), she also won aPulitzer for her novel TheOptimist’s Daughter.
Born on this date in 1909, Welty's love of reading was reinforced by her mother who believed"any room in the house, at any time in the day, was there to read in, orto be read to."                
A Works Progress Administration employee in the mid-‘30s,Welty documented daily life and the effect of WPA efforts in Mississippithrough both her words and photos.  In1971 she published one of the definitive photo books about the experience, One Time, One Place.   Many of herbooks and short stories are reflective of the hard times and individualhardships she  observed. 
Never afraid to speak out againstinjustice, Welty said “All serious daring starts from within.  To imagine yourself inside the life of anotherperson... is what a story writer does in every piece of work; it is his firststep, and his last too, I suppose.”