Eudora WeltyEudora Welty

Aaron, Devin, Sheronda, Taylor6th Period – English III

Mrs. Cleveland

Eudora Alice WeltyEudora Alice Welty Born on April 13, 1909, in Jackson, Mississippi The oldest of her family's three children and

the only girl She attended the Mississippi College for

Women, graduated from the University of Wisconsin (1929)

Studied advertising at Columbia University for a year

The years in Wisconsin and New York broadened Welty's horizons

New York City was especially meaningful for it was during the peak of The Harlem Renaissance, an artistic awakening that produced many African American artists

Welty returned to Jackson in 1931 after her father's death

She worked as a part-time journalist, copywriter, and photographer for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was aimed at providing jobs for writers

The latter job took her on assignments throughout Mississippi, and she began using these experiences as material for short stories

In June 1936, her story "Death of a Traveling Salesman" was accepted for publication in the journal Manuscript

Within two years her work had appeared in such respected publications as the Atlantic and the Southern Review.

Soon after her first novel was published, she stopped writing to care full-time for her family for fifteen years

After her mother died in 1966, she returned to writing

She was a 6-time winner of the O. Henry Award for Short Stories, the National Medal for Literature, the American Book Award, and in 1969, a Pulitzer Prize

Her writings supports the power of community and family life and at the same time explores the need for peace

While much of modern American fiction has focused on isolation and the failure of love, Welty's stories show how tolerance and generosity allow people to adapt to each other's weaknesses and to painful change.

Welty's fiction particularly celebrates the love of men and women, the fleeting joys of childhood, and the many dimensions and stages of women's lives

In August of 2000, Country Churchyards, with photographs by Welty, excerpts from her previous writings, and new essays by other writers, was published.

Welty was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, on October 7, 2000.

Welty died at the age of ninety-two on July 22, 2001, in Jackson, Mississippi.

It is for her fiction (usually set in the rural South), that she's known as the First Lady of Southern Literature.

The Welty House, located at 1119 Pinehurst Street in Jackson, Mississippi, was donated to the state of Mississippi and is being preserved as a national monument.

ReferencesReferences Page numbers – 8-16Page numbers – 8-16

Website for picture – eudorawelty.orgWebsite for picture – eudorawelty.org