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- Biographies: Jamaica Kincaid, Marilyn Nelson, Clifford Ashley, Sylvia Earle, and Phillis Wheatley
- Audio: Harriet Beecher Stowe's The Pearl of Orr’s Island
- Video: Derek Walcott reads "Sea Grapes"
- Featured Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Tag Archives: Great Lakes
Paretsky, Sara
by Mary DeJong Obuchowski (2000) PARETSKY, SARA (1947- ). V. I. Warshawski, the protagonist in all of Sara Paretsky’s mysteries to date, is a private investigator in Chicago who pursues criminals. In some of her exploits, Warshawski traces them to Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, 21st Century, Fiction, Great Lakes, Women Protagonists
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Woolson, Constance Fenimore
by Victoria Brehm (2000) WOOLSON, CONSTANCE FENIMORE (1840-1894). One of the first American realists, Constance Fenimore Woolson began her career writing about the Great Lakes, including an early story, “Margaret Morris” (1872), which is the first shipwreck fiction of the Continue reading text links
Posted in W
Tagged 19th Century, Fiction, Gender/Sexuality and the Sea, Great Lakes, Island Life, Women Protagonists
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Vukelich, George
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) VUKELICH, GEORGE (1927-1995). “[I]t was good to be on the Great Lakes,” wrote George Vukelich in 1955 to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal, after a spell as an ore boat deckhand. This sentiment pervades Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Fishing, Great Lakes, Journalism, Merchant Marine, Multimedia/Multimodal, Poetry, Science/Nature, Short Story
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Vollmann, William T.
by Dana L. Peterson (2000) VOLLMANN, WILLIAM T[ANNER]. (1959- ). William T. Vollmann’s very ambitious project is a seven-novel series entitled Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes, which interweaves history, myth and legend, imagination, illustrations, and personal travel Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, 21st Century, Arctic, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Great Lakes, Nonfiction, Science/Nature, Short Story
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Urquhart, Jane
by Jill B. Gidmark (2000) URQUHART, JANE (1949- ). Jane Urquhart was born near Lake Nipigon, Ontario, north of Lake Superior, where she spent the first five years of her life. Vivid memories of extended time on the north shore of Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Great Lakes
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Thoreau, Henry David
by Capper Nichols (2000) THOREAU, HENRY DAVID (1817-1862). Henry David Thoreau is most often associated with his birthplace and home, Concord, Massachusetts, and the woods, ponds, and streams in the vicinity of the town. But he frequently made excursions to other Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, audio, Great Lakes, Science/Nature
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Stone, William Leete
by Boyd Childress (2000) STONE, WILLIAM LEETE (1792-1844). William Leete Stone was a journalist and writer whose career as a newspaperman largely overshadowed his work as a historian. Born in New Paltz, New York, Stone had little formal schooling in advance Continue reading text links
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
by R. D. Madison and Victoria Brehm (2000) SCHOOLCRAFT, HENRY ROWE (1793-1864). Born in upstate New York, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was trained as a glassmaker. Like many Americans of his age, however, as a young man Schoolcraft went west, where Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Fiction, Great Lakes, Poetry
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Sandburg, Carl
by Philip A. Greasley (2000) SANDBURG, CARL [AUGUST] (1878-1967). Carl Sandburg, poet, historian, journalist, novelist, labor organizer, folksinger, and collector of American dialect, was born to Swedish immigrant parents in Galesburg, Illinois. Sandburg early understood the beauty, power, and destructiveness of Continue reading text links
Robertson, Morgan
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) ROBERTSON, MORGAN (1861-1915). Son of a Great Lakes captain, Morgan Robertson was born in Oswego, New York, on Lake Ontario. He wrote popular sea fiction with the authoritative voice of an expert seaman. Sailing from 1877 Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Fiction, Great Lakes
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Ratigan, William O.
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) RATIGAN, WILLIAM 0. (1910-1984). Born to a Great Lakes steamboat engineer in Detroit and later adopted by an Ottawa tribe chief, William Ratigan called Michigan his home. This Great Lakes historian’s writings celebrate ordinary Americans Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Great Lakes, Nonfiction, Poetry
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Merwin, Samuel
by Robert Beasecker (2000) MERWIN, SAMUEL (1874-1936). Born in Evanston, Illinois, Samuel Merwin attended Northwestern University but did not graduate. His literary career began with the publication of two popularly acclaimed novels, The Short Line War (1899) and Calumet “K” (1901), Continue reading text links
McCormick, Jay W.
by Robert Beasecker (2000) McCORMICK, JAY W. (1919- ). Jay W. McCormick was born and grew up in the small Lake Huron port town of Harbor Beach, Michigan. His father was a Great Lakes ship captain, and the younger McCormick spent Continue reading text links
Lane, Carl
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) LANE, CARL [DANIEL] (1899-1995). Carl Lane, a nautical writer and illustrator born in New York City, developed his love for the sea while vacationing in Maine, where he eventually settled. Lane wrote The Fleet in the Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Children's Writing, Fiction, Great Lakes, War
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Hurlbut, Frances B.
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) HURLBUT, FRANCES [BRINDEL] (1842?-1892). Orphaned by age nine, Frances Hurlbut, nee Brindel, left Pennsylvania for Newport (now Marine City), Michigan, to live with her aunt, Emily Ward. Hurlbut’s only publication, Grandmother’s Stories (1889), recounts Aunt Emily’s Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, First-person narrative, Great Lakes
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Hemingway, Ernest Miller
by Bickford Sylvester (2000) HEMINGWAY, ERNEST MILLER (1899-1961). Ernest Hemingway, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in fiction (1952) and the Nobel Prize in literature (1954), grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. Except when rough water forced them to go by Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Caribbean, Exploration, Fiction, Fishing, Great Lakes, Nonfiction, Short Story, video
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Havighurst, Walter
by Peter H. McCracken (2000) HAVIGHURST, WALTER [EDWIN] (1901-1994). Walter Havighurst is known primarily as a historian of the Midwest, but he also wrote fiction, much of it influenced by his experiences at sea in the 1920s. Havighurst worked as Continue reading text links
Hallet, Richard Matthews
by Bert Bender HALLET, RICHARD MATTHEWS (1887-1967). In 1912, at age twenty-five and with both a B.A. and LL.B. from Harvard University, Richard Matthews Hallet abandoned the practice of law in search of adventure and a career as a sea-writer. Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, First-person narrative, Great Lakes, Indian Ocean, War
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Fuller, Margaret
by Robert Beasecker (2000) FULLER, [SARAH] MARGARET (1810-1850). Born in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, Margaret Fuller was the eldest of nine children. Her father, a lawyer and congressman, educated her at home, and under his demanding regimen she developed her remarkable intellectual Continue reading text links
Fuller, Iola
by Mary DeJong Obuchowski (2000) FULLER [MCCOY], IOLA (1906-1993). Born in Marcellus, Michigan, Iola Fuller worked both as a librarian and a teacher at Ferris State College before engaging in writing full-time. She won an Avery Hopwood award at the Continue reading text links
Ellis, Edward Sylvester
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) ELLIS, EDWARD SYLVESTER (1840-1916). A prolific, versatile author, Edward Sylvester Ellis was born in Geneva, Ohio, near Lake Erie. While young, he moved to New Jersey, only later to return to the Great Lakes in Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Fiction, Great Lakes, Nonfiction
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Dunlap, William
by Robert Beasecker (2000) DUNLAP, WILLIAM (1766-1839). William Dunlap, born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, showed considerable artistic aptitude at an early age and in 1784 was sent to England to study painting under Benjamin West. There, however, he became Continue reading text links
Doner, Mary Frances
by Mary DeJong Obuchowski (2000) DONER, MARY FRANCES (1893-1985). Mary Frances Doner set many of her books near her birthplace, Port Huron, Michigan. She supplied around 250 short stories for pulp magazines early in her career and in the 1930s Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Great Lakes, Nonfiction, Passenger Travel, Short Story
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Disturnell, John
by David D. Anderson (2000) DISTURNELL, JOHN (1801-1877). A printer and book dealer, as well as librarian of the Cooper Union, John Disturnell, who lived most of his life in New York City when he was not traveling, was a Continue reading text links
Desrosiers, Leo-Paul
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) DESROSIERS, LEO-PAUL (1896-1967). Leo-Paul Desrosiers was born in Berthier-en-Haut, Quebec, a village on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River northeast of Montreal. His happy childhood provided him with material for his first work, Ames Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, French, Great Lakes, Maritime History
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Curwood, James Oliver
by Ed Demerly (2000) CURWOOD, JAMES OLIVER (1878-1927). James Oliver Curwood, born in Owosso, Michigan, was a popular writer of nonfiction, romance and adventure fiction, and scripts for silent films. Although much of his fiction is set in the Canadian Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Fiction, Great Lakes, Journalism, Multimedia/Multimodal, Nonfiction
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Catherwood, Mary Hartwell
by Kenneth A. Robb (2000) CATHERWOOD, MARY HARTWELL (1847-1902). Mary Hartwell Catherwood began her career with realistic stories of the midwest frontier but focused on stories of the French in early America after her novel The Romance of Dollard (1888). This interest Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Fiction, Great Lakes, Maritime History, Nonfiction
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Carse, Robert
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) CARSE, ROBERT (1902-1971). A Great Lakes sailor at seventeen, Robert Carse later worked salt water, attaining the position of chief mate. He sailed most of the world and developed a reputation as an expert seaman Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Children's Writing, Exploration, Fiction, Great Lakes, Maritime History, Short Story
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Cadwell, Clara Gertrude
by Robert Beasecker (2000) CADWELL, CLARA [GERTRUDE] (c.1856-l???). Other than the two facts that Clara Cadwell was born in Jefferson, Ohio, and later lived in Cleveland, almost nothing is known of her life. Her single published literary work, a novel Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Fiction, Great Lakes, Passenger Travel
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Boyer, Dwight
by David D. Anderson (2000) BOYER, DWIGHT (1912-1977). A journalist, photographer, and feature writer for the Toledo Blade, 1944-1954, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1954-1977, Dwight Boyer grew up and spent his professional life on the south shore of Lake Erie. He Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Great Lakes, Journalism, Multimedia/Multimodal, Oral tradition
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Bates, Martha E. Cram
by Robert Beasecker (2000) BATES, MARTHA E. CRAM (1839-1905). Scant biographical detail exists concerning M.E.C. Bates. She was born in Northville, Michigan, and attended the State Normal School, now Eastern Michigan University. It appears that she taught school for at Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Fiction, Great Lakes, Journalism
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