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County: Nassau

William Saroyan

(1908-1981) Novelist, playwright. William Saroyan was born in Fresno, California. He lived in Mill Neck, New York for six months, and stayed at the McBurney YMCA, 215 West 23rd Street in Manhattan, New York when he first moved to New York in the 1920s. In 1991 the United States Postal Service issued its nineth stamp … Continued

Edward Everett Tanner III

Writer. Published under the pseudonyms Patrick Dennis and Virginia Rowans “Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade in Biography,”1955. He lived in an old school house in Smithtown,Bethpage. Auntie Mame made Tanner a millionaire ,he became the first author to have three books on the Times list at once, when he published “Guestward Ho!” and “The Loving … Continued

Ringgold (Ring) Wilmer Lardner

(1885-1933) Sportswriter, writer, journalist, columnist, short story writer, humorist. Born into affluence in Niles, Michigan, Ringgold Wilmer Lardner went on to take a position as a society reporter and sportswriter at various newspapers. Mr. Lardner lived in Manhattan, New York.

Sinclair Lewis

(1885-1951) Novelist, writer, playwright, satirist. Sinclair Lewis wrote the novels “Main Street” (1920), “Babbitt” (1922), “Arrowsmith” (1925; Pulitzer Prize, refused), and “Elmer Gantry” (1927), which satirized middle-class life in the 1920s. Lewis was first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1930. He and his wife Dorothy Thompson lived at 17 Wood Lane … Continued

Gabriela Mistral

(1889-1957)(Lucila Godoy Alcayaga) Gabriela Mistral was born in Chile. She was the only Latin American woman to have won a Nobel Prize. She studied at the Pedagogical College in Santiago, became a secondary school teacher, taught in the Liceode los Andes (1912-1918), and rose to important posts in the Chilean educational system. She helped to … Continued

William Cullen Bryant

(1794-1878) Writer, poet, editor. William Cullen Bryant was born in Massachusetts. Mr. Bryant lived at 428-343 Lafayette Street and 24 West 16th Street in Manhattan, New York. Bryant became a recognized poet early in life, then was admitted to the bar in 1815. He practiced law in Massachusetts for ten years, then moved to New … Continued

Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett

(1849-1924) Writer. Born in England, Ms. Burnett came to New York, wrote “The Secret Garden,” “Little Lord Fauntleroy” (1886), and others. The dramatization of novels without compensation to their original author had been a problem for English writers. With Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances was the first author to win such control, which created the legal … Continued

George M Cohan

(1878-1942) Playwright, composer, actor, lyricist, librettist. George M. Cohan wrote numerous Broadway musicals and straight plays. He had his first big Broadway hit in 1904 with the show “Little Johnny Jones,” which introduced his tunes “Give My Regards to Broadway” and “The Yankee Doodle Boy”. His shows “Forty-five Minutes from Broadway” (1905), “George Washington, Jr.” … Continued

Frederic Dannay

(1905-1982) Writer, novelist. Frederic Dannay wrote under the pseudonym, Ellery Queen, with his cousin Manfred Lee. He lived in Nassau County, New York.

Ariel Durant

(1898-1981) Writer, historian. Ms. Durant wrote “The Story of Civilization” (with Will Durant). She lived in Nassau County and on Staten Island and spent her summers from 1919 to 1928 in Woodstock, New York.