Author Birthdays: Faulkner, Anderson, Silverstein
by marshd
September 25th marks the birthday of authors William Faulkner, Jessica Anderson, and Shel Silverstein.
William Faulkner was a Nobel-winning American author, who helped fund the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He was also the winner of the Pulitzer Prize twice--once for A Fable, and eight years later for The Reivers--and the National Book Award twice--awarded to A Fable and his Collected Stories.
Faulkner wrote many books, though perhaps the most well-known to many are The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying. Among the more interesting concepts are Requiem for a Nun, which is part novel and part play (and the sequel to his commercial book, Sanctuary), and his short story "A Rose for Emily", which is narrated in the first-person plural "we". In 1955, Faulkner spoke about this short story in a book edited by Robert Jelliffe, explaining, "...here was a woman who had had...an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute...to a woman you would hand a rose."
Jessica Anderson was an Australian award-winning author. Two of her winning books won, among other awards, the Miles Franklin Award. One of these is called The Impersonators, though it was retitled in the U.S. to The Only Daughter. The other is Tirra Lirra by the River, which Library Journal called "Subtle, rich, and seductive", and the Washington Post explained as "a wry, romantic story." Sadly, Anderson passed just a few months ago in Sydney.
Shel Silverstein was a sort of American Renaissance man. Best known for his children's poetry, Silverstein also was a cartoonist, musician, singer, and screenwriter. He won a Grammy for "A Boy Named Sue" and was even nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for a song in the movie Postcards from the Edge.
Silverstein has been published in 20 languages. Among those we have here are English, Chinese, French, Hebrew, and Spanish versions of his biggest books. Maybe you have heard of Falling Up, Where the Sidewalk Ends, The Giving Tree...should I keep going?
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