Elizabeth Spencer (1) (1921–2019)
Author of The Voice at the Back Door
For other authors named Elizabeth Spencer, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Elizabeth Spencer is the author of more than a dozen collections of stories & novels. Born in 1921 in Carrollton, Mississippi, she currently lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Bowker Author Biography) Elizabeth Spencer was born on July 19, 1921, in Carrollton, Miss., to James and Mary (McCain) show more Spencer. Her father was a businessman and farmer. Her mother¿s family owned a plantation where black servants abounded long after the abolition of slavery. Elizabeth grew up in a racially segregated town of 500 and in a home filled with books. She began writing stories as a child. Elizabeth graduated from Belhaven College in Jackson, Miss., in 1942 and earned a master¿s in 1943 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She taught junior college classes for two years and was a reporter for The Nashville Tennessean for a year. Her well-received first novel, Fire in the Morning (1948), created a Mississippi town, with a history of its citizens, conflicts and values. Her second novel, This Crooked Way (1952), was also set in the South. From 1948 to 1951, she taught at the University of Mississippi at Oxford. After a year in New York, she returned to Oxford briefly, then won a fellowship and left for Europe. She soon released several novels including Knights and Dragons (1965) and No Place for an Angel (1967) and a collection of short stories, Ship Island and Other Stories (1968). Elizabeth Spencer taught from 1976 to 1986 at Concordia University in Montreal and from 1986 to 1992 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Elizabeth Spencer passed away ib December 22,2019 at the age of 98. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Photo by Derek Anderson
Works by Elizabeth Spencer
Elizabeth Spencer: Novels & Stories (LOA #344): The Voice at the Back Door / The Light in the Piazza / Knights and… (2021) 54 copies
Associated Works
Growing Up in the South: An Anthology of Modern Southern Literature (1991) — Contributor — 144 copies, 1 review
More Dixie Ghosts: More Haunting, Spine-Chilling Stories from the American South (1994) — Contributor — 9 copies
Antaeus No. 73/74, Spring 1994 - Who’s Writing This: Notations on the Authorial I {magazine} (1994) — Contributor — 5 copies
32 Współczesne Opowiadania Amerykańskie - Tom II — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1921-07-19
- Date of death
- 2019-12-22
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Carrollton, Mississippi, USA
- Place of death
- Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
- Places of residence
- Italy
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Jackson, Mississippi, USA - Education
- Vanderbilt University (MA)
Belhaven College (BA) - Occupations
- novelist
short-story writer
playwright
memoirist - Relationships
- Percy, Walker (colleague)
Foote, Shelby (colleague)
Lucas, Craig (colleague) - Organizations
- Fellowship of Southern Writers (charter member)
University of Mississippi
Concordia University (Montreal)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Awards and honors
- O. Henry Award (x 5)
Cleanth Brooks Medal for Lifetime Achievement (2001)
John Dos Passos Prize (1991)
PEN/Malamud Award (2007)
Sidney Lanier Prize for Southern Literature (2014)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award ( [1952])
Members
Reviews
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 24
- Also by
- 22
- Members
- 919
- Popularity
- #27,917
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 19
- ISBNs
- 99
- Languages
- 1
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An amazing little book that packs a punch.… (more)