Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: April 28, 1892 - John Jacob Niles

Image from www.john-jacob-nile.com 

From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -
John Jacob Niles, ballad writer and collector, eldest son of John Thomas and Lula (Sarah) Niles, was born on April 28, 1892, in Louisville into a musical family. His great-grandfather was a composer, organist, and cello manufacturer, and his father had a local following as a folksinger and square dance caller. From his mother he learned music theory and the piano. Niles first sang publicly at the age of seven, and in 1907, at fifteen, he composed "go 'way From My Window." He was encouraged to continue his musical career by Henry Watterson , editor of the Louisville Courier-journal. He later studied music at the Universite de Lyon in France, the Schola Cantorum in Paris, and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

In 1909 Niles graduated from Du Pont Manual Training High School in Louisville and began work as a mechanic at Burroughs Machine Company. In 1917 he enlisted as a private in the aviation section of the Army Signal Corps and was a pilot in France during World War I. When a plane crash left him partially paralyzed, he was discharged in 1918. He moved to New York City and in 1921 became master of ceremonies at the Silver Slipper nightclub there. He teamed with contralto Marion Kerby, and they toured both Europe and the United States giving performances. Niles also sang briefly for the Chicago Lyric Opera Company. He was described as a flamboyant, charismatic performer, and his performances did much to make folk music popular and were often imitated. His last concert was at Swannanoa, North Carolina, in September 1978.

Although he preferred performing, Niles is best remembered as a collector and popularizer of folk music. At the age of fifteen he began to record in a notebook the music of the Ohio Valley region. During the periods 1909-17 and 1928-34, he gathered and recorded songs of eastern Kentucky and the southern Appalachian area, a pioneer in collecting the songs of the common people. Niles arranged or composed more than 1,000 ballads, folk songs, carols, and wartime songs. Among his best known works are "i Wonder As I Wander," "black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair," "jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head," "lamentation," "mary The Rose," and "the Hangman." In 1961 many of his songs were published in the Ballad Book Of John Jacob Niles. His friendship with Trappist monk Thomas Merton resulted in the publication of Niles's last major work in 1972, when he set twenty-two of Merton's poems to music. He lectured and performed extensively, particularly on college campuses.

Niles also carved wood, made furniture, invented, and gardened. He married Rena Lipetz in 1936; they had two sons, Thomas Michael Tolliver and John Edward. Niles died at his Boot Hill Farm near Lexington on March 1, 1980, and was buried at St. Hubert's Cemetery in Clark County.

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Pen, Ronald. The Biography and Works of John Jacob Niles. Lexington, Ky.: [s.n.], 1987. Print.
Theses 1987, Fine Arts Library

Farrell, David, Anne G. Campbell, Terry L. Birdwhistell, and Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. John Jacob Niles General Oral History Project. 1977.
Special Collections Research Center - Oral History Collection

Niles, John Jacob, and Thomas Merton. The Niles-Merton Songs : Opus 171 and 172. Champaign, IL: Mark Foster Music, 1981. Print.
M1621.N675 N5 1981, Special Collections Research Center

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: April 27, 1906 - Alice Allison Dunnigan

 Image from kchr.ky.gov




From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -
Alice (Allison) Dunnigan, journalist and civil rights leader, was born April 27, 1906, near Russellville, Kentucky, to Willie and Lena (Pittman) Allison. She graduated from the two-year Knob City High School and attended Kentucky State University in Frankfort. She taught in local rural schools and continued her education during vacations. Alice Allison married Charles Dunnigan in December 1931; they had one son, Robert. In 1942 Dunnigan went to work at the U.S. Labor Department in Washington, D.C., where she started her lifelong fight against discrimination.

Dunnigan became a reporter for the Associated Negro Press and in August 1947 was accredited to cover presidential press conferences. In the 1940s she reported the early Washington, D.C., sit-ins to desegregate restaurants. Dunnigan gained greater access for black journalists at even the highest level of government. As a reporter she came to know four presidents. The first black journalist to accompany a U.S. president when traveling, she covered Harry S. Truman's 1948 campaign trip up the West Coast. In the 1960s she was a member of the President's Committee on Equal Opportunity under both John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Dunnigan was a world traveler, a well-known speaker, and a leader in the civil rights movement. She was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 1982. For a time, she wrote a weekly column for the Louisville Defender on the achievements of Kentucky blacks. Her book The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians: Their Heritage and Traditions was published in 1982. She died May 6, 1983, and was buried in Maryland National Memorial Park.

RENA MILLIKEN, Entry Author

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Dunnigan, Alice Allison. The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians : Their Heritage and Traditions. Washington, D.C.: Associated, 1982. Print.
E185.93.K3 D86 1982, Young Library - 4th Floor

Dunnigan, Alice Allison. A Black Woman's Experience : From Schoolhouse to White House. Philadelphia: Dorrance, 1974. Print.
B D9223bl, Special Collections Research Center - Biography Collection

Hill, Ruth Edmonds., and Arthur Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. The Black Women Oral History Project : From the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe College. Westport, CT: Meckler, 1991. Print.
 E185.86 .B454 1991, Young Library - 4th Floor

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: April 26, 1897 - Philipine “Doc” Roberts

Image from www.pastblues.com



From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -

Philipine ("Fiddlin' Doc") Roberts, musician, son of William and Rosa Roberts, was born in Madison County, Kentucky , on April 26, 1897. Considered Kentucky's outstanding fiddler, he performed with various other Kentuckians, including Edgar Boaz, Ted Chestnut, Dick Parman, Marion Underwood, Green Bailey, and Welby Toomey. In 1927 he teamed up with Asa Martin, who played the guitar, saw, and jug. He appeared on Nashville's " Grand Ole Opry" and on several other radio stations, including WLAP Lexington. Martin and Roberts recorded more than two hundred sides, under a dozen stage names, on eleven labels. They made up the Doc Roberts Trio along with Doc's son James Roberts, who later married Irene Amburgey and formed with her the gospel duo James and Martha Carson. Roberts died on August 4, 1978, and was buried in the Richmond Cemetery.

CHARLES F. FABER, Entry Author

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Old-Time Mountain Blues. County. Print.
INTERNET

Wolfe, Charles K. The Devil's Box : Masters of Southern Fiddling. 1st ed. Nashville: Country Music Foundation : Vanderbilt UP, 1996. Print.
ML3551.7.S68 W65 1997, Special Collections Research Center

Wolfe, Charles K. Kentucky Country : Folk and Country Music of Kentucky. Lexington, Ky.: U of Kentucky, 1982. Print.
ML3551 .W64 1982, Fine Arts Library

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: April 26, 1785 - John James Audubon

Image from www.arthistoryimages

 

From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -
America's foremost naturalist and illustrator of birds, John James Audubon was born April 26, 1785, in St. Dominque (now Haiti) on Les Cayes, his father's plantation. His father, Jean Audubon, was a French naval officer, merchant, and slave trader who had served under General LaFayette in the American Revolutionary War. Audubon's natural mother is thought to have been Jeanne Rabbine, his father's mistress, who died shortly after his birth. Audubon grew up in France under the affectionate care of his father's wife, Anne Moynette Audubon. He preferred roaming the woods and sketching birds to academic studies.

In 1803 Audubon arrived in America to manage his father's farm in Norristown, Pennsylvania. He led an active social life, with enough time to study and draw the abundant birds of his new country. His outgoing nature and accomplishments as a musician and dancer attracted Lucy Bakewell, daughter of a neighbor, who became his wife on April 5, 1808.

Audubon and Ferdinand Rozier, his fellow-Frenchman and business partner, had left Pennsylvania in 1807 to become storekeepers in Louisville. Both were aware of the frontier town's reputation as a gathering point for trappers and traders. The following year, Audubon brought his new bride to "temporary" quarters in Louisville's Indian Queen Hotel, which was to be their home for more than two years. In 1809 their first son, Victor Gifford, was born. As before, Audubon spent a great deal of his time in the woods, observing and drawing birds.

By 1810 Audubon's collection of bird portraits had grown to more than two hundred drawings. At that time, noted Scottish ornithologist Alexander Wilson arrived in Louisville to draw birds and to sell subscriptions to a published portfolio of his works. After seeing Wilson's drawings, Audubon confided that he, too, had been working for years in an effort to draw all the birds of America. Until that meeting, he had considered his efforts merely a personal pastime. However, he could see that his own drawings were superior to Wilson's.

Later that year, believing more profits could be made where there was less competition, Rozier convinced Audubon to move their business 120 miles downriver to Henderson, Kentucky. Along with Rozier, the Audubon family moved into a log cabin, setting up their store in the front room. By 1811 the ambitious Rozier suggested moving farther west, to the Mississippi River outpost of St. Genevieve, Missouri. After seeing St. Genevieve, Audubon decided that it lacked potential, and he and Rozier amicably agreed to end their partnership.

The first years in Henderson brought the Audubons relative prosperity and happiness. A second son, John Woodhouse, was born there on November 30, 1812. Audubon took advantage of frequent business trips to increase the number of drawings in his portfolio. Victor and John took an interest in their father's avocation, later becoming accomplished artists and playing roles in the successful completion and publication of Audubon's books on birds.

By 1818 Audubon had fallen into serious debt. Embittered by his misfortunes and grieving at the death of his two-year-old daughter, Lucy, in 1817, Audubon sold the family's belongings and they returned to Louisville, where he earned his living by painting portraits and giving art lessons. He was jailed briefly for his debts, and he filed for bankruptcy in the panic of 1819. The final sad note of his time in Kentucky came with the birth and death, in Louisville, of his daughter Rosa, who was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. Audubon and his family left Kentucky in 1819, moving first to Ohio, where he became a taxidermist for Daniel Drake 's new Western Museum in Cincinnati, and in 1820 to Louisiana.

Audubon's four-volume Birds Of America was published in 1827-38, ensuring his place in history. His artistic renderings of America's birds and animals are unsurpassed in their accuracy and beauty. The work was followed by the five-volume The Viviparous Quadrupeds Of America (1842-45) and portfolios (1846-54). Audubon also wrote Ornithological Biography (1831-39), the text of the fifth volume of Birds Of America, and Synopsis Of Birds Of North America (1839), which cataloged the birds.

Audubon spent several years of increasing senility. He died on January 27, 1851, at Minnie's Land, his home on the Hudson River (now Audubon Park in New York City), and he was buried there.

Many of Audubon's engravings, paintings, personal artifacts, and one of the few remaining complete, four-volume sets of the double-elephant Birds Of America portfolios are on view at the John James Audubon Memorial Museum at Audubon State Park, Henderson, Kentucky.

CONSTANCE ALEXANDER and ROY DAVIS, Entry Authors

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Audubon, John James. John James Audubon Papers. Print.
87M4, Special Collections Research Center - Manuscripts Collection

 Audubon, John James, and Marshall B. Davidson. The Original Water-color Paintings by John James Audubon for The Birds of America : Reproduced in Color for the First Time from the Collection at the New-York Historical Society. Original Ed.]. ed. New York: American Heritage Pub.; Distributed to ellers by Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1966. Print.
598.297 Au29or, Special Collections Research Center - Oversize Collection

Audubon, John James, Howard Corning, Harvard University. Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Club of Odd Volumes. Journal of John James Audubon Made during His Trip to New Orleans in 1820-1821. Boston: Club of Odd Volumes, 1929. Print.

B Au29j 1929a, Special Collections Research Center - Biography Collection

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: April 24, 1905 - Robert Penn Warren

Image from blog.syracuse.com


From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -
Robert Penn Warren, one of the most distinguished scholar-writers America has produced, was born in Guthrie, Todd County , Kentucky, on April 24, 1905. He was one of three children of Robert Franklin and Ann Ruth (Penn) Warren. Warren attended public schools in Guthrie and graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1925. (An eye injury had forced the cancellation of his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy.) He had intended to major in chemistry, but under the influence of John Crowe Ransom, he switched to English. While at Vanderbilt, he joined the group known as the Fugitives, participating in literary discussions and in founding the journal called The Fugitive, published during 1922-25. He later belonged to the Agrarians, a social-political group that included other such literary lights as Ransom, Donald Davidson, and Allen Tate . Warren (known to his friends as "Red") continued his studies at the University of California, Berkeley, earning his M.A. in English there in 1927. He subsequently studied at Yale and, for two years, at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned the B.Litt. degree at Oxford in 1930.

Warren's long and distinguished teaching career began at Louisiana State University in 1934. While there, he cofounded (along with Cleanth Brooks, another Kentuckian, and Charles W. Pipkin) The Southern Review, a literary journal that lasted from 1935 until 1942. Warren taught at the University of Minnesota during 1942-51, then returned to Yale as a professor of playwriting and retained that post until 1956. He was named professor of English at Yale in 1961 and retired in 1973.

As well as teaching and lecturing, Warren achieved both critical and popular acclaim as a poet, novelist, essayist, dramatist, literary critic, and editor. Among his better-known works are Night Rider (1939), All the King's Men (1946), Audubon: A Vision (1969), Now and Then: Poems 1976-1978 (1979). The nation's first Poet Laureate and a three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize (the only writer to win for both fiction and poetry), Warren also received a National Book Award, the Copernicus Award For Poetry, the Bollingen Prize For Poetry, the National Medal For Literature, and a Macarthur Foundation award. He was awarded the Gold Medal For Poetry from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Practically all of Warren's critics have commented on how his poetic powers improved as he grew older. (Friends said he was writing until the last few months of his life.) In A Literary History Of Kentucky (1988), William S. Ward expresses the widespread critical view: "Nothing has distinguished Warren's career so much as the late flowering of his poetic powers, during which he became both a more prolific and steadily better poet. His New and Selected Poems, 1923-1985, presumably well-represents the poetry he is willing to trust his reputation to; and indeed it reflects well the informal, personal and meditative poem that has become the trademark of the work that traces back to Promises and even to `The Ballad of Billy Potts."' Western Kentucky University in 1987 established the Center for Warren Studies, and a committee in Guthrie completed restoration of Warren's birthplace in 1989. In 1988 Warren received the Milner Award Of The Governor's Awards For The Arts In Kentucky.

Warren married Emma Brescia in 1930; they were divorced in 1951. He married the writer Eleanor Clark in 1952; they had two children: Rosanna Warren Sculley, a poet, and Gabriel, a sculptor. Warren died on September 15, 1989, and was buried in the Stratton, Vermont, cemetery.

MARY ELLEN MILLER, Entry Author

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Farrell, David, Susan E. Allen, and Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. Robert Penn Warren Oral History Project. 1977.
Special Collections Research Center - Oral History Collection

Cronin, Gloria L., and Ben Siegel. Conversations with Robert Penn Warren. Jackson: U of Mississippi, 2005. Print. Literary Conversations Ser.
B W2557GA, Special Collections Research Center - Biography Collection

Stewart, John L. The Burden of Time: The Fugitives and Agrarians; the Nashville Groups of the 1920's and 1930's, and the Writing of John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, and Robert Penn Warren. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1965. Print.
PS255.N3 S7 1965, Young Library - 5th Floor

Moyers, Bill D., and Robert Penn Warren. Bill Moyers' Journal : A Conversation with Robert Penn Warren. New York: WNET, 1976. Print.
PS3545.A748 M640 1976, Special Collections Research Center

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: April 24, 1926 - Cawood Ledford

 

Image from www.wsgs.com

From Wikipedia (Accessed April 19, 2016):
Cawood Ledford (April 24, 1926 – September 5, 2001) was a longtime radio play-by-play announcer for the University of Kentucky basketball and football teams. Ledford's style and professionalism endeared himself to many sports fans in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and he remains among the most popular sports figures in the state.

 A native of Harlan, Kentucky, Ledford was educated at Hall High School and Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. He began broadcasting high school basketball and football games for WHLN radio in Harlan in 1951 and began broadcasting Kentucky Wildcats games in 1953 after moving to Lexington.[1] He remained in his position of play-by-play announcer for University of Kentucky basketball for 39 years. His last game as an announcer for a Kentucky basketball game was in 1992, when Kentucky fell to Duke 104-103 in overtime in the NCAA East Regional Final, a game widely considered to be the greatest college basketball game ever played.[2] In a gesture of appreciation, Duke head coach Mike
Krzyzewski walked to the broadcast area immediately after the game's conclusion and congratulated Ledford on his career.

He also worked as the play-by-play announcer for national radio broadcasts of the NCAA Men's Final Four on the CBS Radio Network, and called many runnings of the Kentucky Derby for CBS Radio. Ledford also announced broadcasts of basketball games of the Kentucky Colonels, a successful American Basketball Association franchise.

Style and sayings
Ledford's play-by-play style was known for its technical prowess, excellent command of the English language and colloquialisms, enunciative quality, gentility, timeliness, humor, and rapid but unhurried delivery. Listeners to his basketball radio broadcasts found that he was able to paint an extremely detailed visual picture of the game and call the action as it happened without sounding rushed. Fans observe that Ledford rarely let a call "lag" behind the action (e.g., when the sound of the crowd cheering is heard before the announcer comments on the game's action). Ledford's voice was generally higher pitched and mildly nasal, which allowed for clear enunciation. However, the tonal quality of his voice was smokey and resonant, which balanced a subtle twang and provided his listeners with a smooth and highly articulate delivery.

Among Ledford's memorable sayings are:
"Hello Everybody, this is Cawood Ledford"[3] – His "sign-in" at the beginning of his radio broadcasts is probably his most memorable saying
"The Wildcats will be moving from left to right (or right to left) on your radio dial."[3] – This now commonplace saying is thought to have originated with Ledford and was mentioned at the outset of basketball games
"Got it" – In reference to a made basket or free throw
"A beauty" – A beautifully made basket, especially in reference to an opponent's play
"Slam" – Exclaimed in a drawn-out style after a dunk shot
"On the dribble" – A very common saying of Ledford's, used when a player elected to dribble the ball rather than pass or shoot in an offensive attack
"He had a notion" – When a player momentarily deliberated about taking a shot, but thought better of it and passed the ball to a teammate.
"Bullseye" – A made basket, especially a long-range shot
"He went to war on that one."[3] – Used to describe a player who demonstrated exceptional or extraordinary effort on a play while encountering significant physical opposition. Said especially of players who drove the lane and shot the ball while drawing a foul, fiercely contested for a rebound, or exerted sustained intense effort over the course of a key play.
"Puts it up and in" – Said of a close range shot made in heavy traffic
"The Cats are Runnin'" – A beloved saying of Ledford's believed to have originated in the 1950s when the Wildcats played in an almost exclusively up-tempo style
"Shoot it, Sean" – when Ledford suspected that a player was being too hesitant, he occasionally inserted into his commentary an exhortation to shoot
"He shot that one from Paducah" – After an especially long shot, Ledford would insert the name of a town in the state of Kentucky at the end of this saying for effect. Variant: When Kentucky played a road game, this changed to a local landmark. For example, after a long 3-point shot made by Rex Chapman in 1986 at Louisville, he changed it to "the Watterson Expressway."
"It danced around a bit, but it finally fell"/"It had a lot of iron on it, but it finally fell" – Said of a made basket in which the ball bounced around the rim or backboard excessively before passing through the hoop.
"Any flags, Ralph?" – During Kentucky football games, if a Wildcat player scored a long touchdown, Ledford would ask long-time broadcast partner and color commentator Ralph Hacker if the referee had thrown a flag. This question was as much about genuine concern that the play would be called back as much as his remembering how many similar plays were negated due to Kentucky penalties in previous games. The humorous question caught on with fans, and is perhaps Ledford's most memorable football saying.

Fan memories
Fans of Ledford frequently share stories about listening to his University of Kentucky broadcasts over the years. Many of these stories revolve around themes of fans going to great lengths to pick up Kentucky radio affiliates from faraway locales, tuning in to hear Ledford's voice over the radio even when the game was televised, and feeling as if Ledford's voice extended a feeling of warmth, familiarity, and comfort on sometimes dreary winter nights.[4]

Legacy



A banner honoring Ledford hangs in Rupp Arena

Perhaps because of the success of the University of Kentucky's men's basketball program, Ledford is generally best remembered as a basketball announcer. In a 2001 dedication, the University of Kentucky named its basketball court at Rupp Arena in Ledford's honor. The words "Cawood's Court" and a radio microphone are painted on the floor in commemoration. The microphone is located at the sideline opposite the scorer's table close to where Ledford broadcast games.

Cawood Ledford was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987. He won three Eclipse Awards for outstanding coverage of thoroughbred racing. He was also named Kentucky's Sportscaster of the Year a record 22 times.[5]

Ledford is generally considered among the finest play-by-play commentators in the history of American sports broadcasting and is highly esteemed by his peers.[6] He was and remains a much beloved and respected figure in Kentucky, in college basketball, in college football, and in horse racing.

Commenting on Ledford's legacy after his death, longtime friend and Lexington-based CEO of Host Communications, Jim Host, said "Cawood was the ultimate in genteel class. He exuded a quiet confidence, but always remembered who he was, where he came from and who he worked for." In 1992 Host Communications published Cawood Ledford's autobiography, Hello Everybody, This is Cawood Ledford,[7] as told to sportswriter and author Billy Reed.

During the Summer of 2014, Kentucky announced that it's multi-team event will be called the Cawood Ledford Classic. Last season, this event was known as the Keightly Classic. The Cawood Ledford Classic has 5 participants for 2014, including Kentucky, Grand Canyon, Texas-Arlington, Montana State and Buffalo.

References
1. "Cawood Ledford laid to rest in Harlan". Enquirer.com. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
2. "SI Vault - Your Link to Sports History - Sports Illustrated". Vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
3. "Scout.com: Cawood: Kentucky remembers a legend". Kentucky.scout.com. September 5, 2001. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
4. "Hazard, KY WSGS & WKIC - Cawood Ledford, Voice of the Cats for 39 years". Wsgs.com. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
5. "CollegeInsider.Com". CollegeInsider.Com. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
6. "ESPN.com - Dick Vitale - vcolumn010905Cawood Ledford".
7. Hello Everybody, This Is Cawood Ledford. "Hello Everybody,This Is Cawood Ledford: Billy Reed: 9781879688179: Amazon.com: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved October 10, 2012.

External linksBiography portal "Cawood Ledford". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 10, 2010. Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame induction

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Ledford, C., & Wallace, T. (1991). Cawood's comments : 39 years of notes, quotes and anecdotes. Lexington, Ky.: Host Creative Communications.
GV707 .L440 1991, Young Library Books - 4th Floor

Ledford, C., & Reed, B. (1992). Hello everybody, this is Cawood Ledford : The story of a Kentucky legend, as told to Billy Reed. Lexington, Ky.: Host Creative Communications.
GV719.L43 A3 1992, Special Collections Research Center Closed Stacks

Ledford, C. (1995). Heart of blue. Lexington, Ky.: Host Communications.
GV885.43.K4 L430 1995, Special Collections Research Center Closed Stacks

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: April 24, 1940 - Sue Grafton

Image from arts-Louisville.com


From Wikipedia (Accessed April 18, 2016):


Sue Taylor Grafton (born April 24, 1940) is a contemporary American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the 'alphabet series' ("A" Is for Alibi, etc.) featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California. The daughter of detective novelist C. W. Grafton, she has said the strongest influence on her crime novels is author Ross Macdonald. Prior to success with this series, she wrote screenplays for television movies.

Biography

Early years
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Sue Grafton is the daughter of novelist C. W. Grafton and Vivian Harnsberger, both of whom were the children of Presbyterian ministers. Grafton and her sister Ann were raised in Louisville. The town features in some of her novels.

She attended both the University of Louisville (first year) and Western Kentucky State Teachers College (now Western Kentucky University) in her sophomore and junior years[2] before graduating from the University of Louisville in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and minors in humanities and fine arts. She is a member of Pi Beta Phi.[3]

After graduating, Grafton worked as a hospital admissions clerk, a cashier, and a medical secretary in Santa Monica and Santa Barbara, California.[3]

Writing career
Grafton began writing when she was 18 and finished her first novel four years later. She continued writing and completed six more manuscripts. Two of these seven novels were published.[2] Unable to find success with her novels, Grafton turned to screenplays.[4][dead link] Grafton worked for the next 15 years writing screenplays for television movies, including Sex and the Single Parent, Mark, I Love You, and Nurse. Her screenplay for Walking Through the Fire earned a Christopher Award in 1979. In collaboration with her husband, Steven Humphrey, she also adapted the Agatha Christie novels A Caribbean Mystery and Sparkling Cyanide for television and co-wrote A Killer in the Family and Love on the Run.[3][5] She is also credited with the story upon which the screenplay for the made for TV movie Svengali (1983) was based.[6][7]

Her experience as a screenwriter taught her the basics of structuring a story, writing dialogue, and creating action sequences. Grafton then felt ready to return to writing fiction.[5] While going through a "bitter divorce and custody battle that lasted six long years," Grafton imagined ways to kill or maim her ex-husband. Her fantasies were so vivid that she decided to write them down.[8]

She had long been fascinated by mysteries that had related titles, including those by John D. MacDonald, whose titles referenced colors, and Harry Kemelman, who used days of the week. While reading Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies, an alphabetical picture book of children who die by various means, she had the idea to write a series of novels based on the alphabet. She immediately sat down and made a list of all of the crime-related words that she knew.[5]

This exercise led to her best-known works, a chronological series of mystery novels. Known as "the alphabet novels," the stories are set in and around the fictional town of Santa Teresa, California. It is based on Santa Barbara, outside of which Grafton maintains a home in the suburb of Montecito. (Grafton chose to use the name Santa Teresa as a tribute to the author Ross Macdonald, who had used it as a fictional name for Santa Barbara in his own novels.)[9]

In the series, Grafton writes from the perspective of a female private investigator named Kinsey Millhone, who lives in Santa Teresa.[10] In apparent tribute to Macdonald, Millhone refers to her private investigator license as a "photostat," as did Macdonald's character Archer. Grafton's first book of this series is "A" Is for Alibi, written and set in 1982. The series continues with "B" Is for Burglar, "C" Is for Corpse, and so on through the alphabet, with the exception of the 24th novel, simply titled "X". After the publication of "G" Is for Gumshoe, Grafton was able to quit her screenwriting job and focus on her novels.[8]

The timeline of the series is slower than real time. "Q" Is for Quarry, for example, is set in 1987, even though it was written in 2002. Grafton has publicly stated that the final novel in the series will be titled "Z" Is for Zero.[11]

Grafton's novels have been published in 28 countries and in 26 languages, including Bulgarian and Indonesian.[12] She has refused to sell the film and television rights to her books, as her time writing screenplays had "cured" her of the desire to work with Hollywood.[5] Grafton has also threatened to haunt her children if they sell the film rights after she is dead.[13]

Awards
Grafton's "B" Is for Burglar and "C" Is for Corpse won the first two Anthony Awards for Best Novel (1986 & 1987), which are selected by the attendees of the annual Bouchestery Convention, ever awarded.[14][15] She has won the Anthony Best Novel Award once more (1991 for "G" Is for Gumshoe) and has been the recipient of three Shamus Awards.[15][16] Additionally in 1987 Grafton's short story, "The Parker Shotgun", won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story.[15]

On June 13, 2000, Sue Grafton was the recipient of the 2000 YWCA of Lexington Smith-Breckinridge Distinguished Woman of Achievement Award.[17]

In 2004, she received the Ross Macdonald Literary Award, which is given to "a California writer whose work raises the standard of literary excellence." In 2008 Grafton was awarded the Cartier Dagger by the British Crime Writers' Association, honoring a lifetime's achievement in the field. Grafton received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 2009. In 2013, she was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award.[18]

In 2014, she was a Guest of Honor at Left Coast Crime.[19] She has also been nominated for a 2014 Shamus Award in the category of Best Hardcover Novel, which she has won three times previously.[20]

Family
Grafton, who has been divorced twice,[8] has been married for more than 20 years to Steven F. Humphrey. She has three children from previous marriages and several grandchildren, including granddaughters named Erin and Kinsey.[3] Grafton and her husband live in Montecito, California, and Louisville, Kentucky, as Humphrey teaches at universities in both cities.[8]

Bibliography

Early novels
Keziah Dane (1967)
The Lolly-Madonna War (1969) – filmed as Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973)[21]

Kinsey Millhone series
"A" Is for Alibi (1982)
"B" Is for Burglar (1985)
"C" Is for Corpse (1986)
"D" Is for Deadbeat (1987)
"E" Is for Evidence (1988)
"F" Is for Fugitive (1989)
"G" Is for Gumshoe (1990)
"H" Is for Homicide (1991)
"I" Is for Innocent (1992)
"J" Is for Judgment (1993)
"K" Is for Killer (1994)
"L" Is for Lawless (1995)
"M" Is for Malice (1996)
"N" Is for Noose (1998)
"O" Is for Outlaw (1999)
"P" Is for Peril (2001)
"Q" Is for Quarry (2002)
"R" Is for Ricochet (2004)
"S" Is for Silence (2005)
"T" Is for Trespass (2007)
"U" Is for Undertow (2009)
"V" Is for Vengeance (2011)
"W" Is for Wasted (2013)
"X" (2015)

Also published
"Teaching a Child" (2013) – essay in the anthology Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting, published by W. W. Norton & Company.
Kinsey and Me (2013) – a collection of Kinsey Millhone short stories along with other short stories about Grafton's own mother.
The Lying Game (2003) – a Kinsey Millhone short story which appeared in the September 2003 special 40th anniversary Lands' End catalogue. It also appeared as a separate pamphlet given to attendees at Malice Domestic 2011 conference, where Grafton was recognized for Lifetime Achievement.

In popular culture
In the "Mayham" episode of The Sopranos, Carmela sits by Tony's bedside in the hospital, reading Sue Grafton's "G" Is for Gumshoe.[22]
In the "Local Ad" episode of The Office, Phyllis goes to a Sue Grafton book signing at the mall to try to get her to be in the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch commercial.[23] She is told by Michael Scott not to take no for an answer. After waiting in line, Phyllis meets Grafton, only to be rebuffed by her.[23] Phyllis continues to ask until she is thrown out of the store. Meanwhile, Andy and Creed talk about how "crazy hot" the author is.
A scene in the film Stranger Than Fiction shows Prof. Hilbert reading a Sue Grafton novel ("I" Is for Innocent) while serving as a lifeguard.[24][25]
In the Season 7 episode of Gilmore Girls titled "To Whom It May Concern," Sookie confesses that she sits at the ski lodge reading "R" Is for Ricochet and "S" Is for Silence.
In the television series Reaper, one of the things Ben looks for in his ideal woman is an interest in Sue Grafton novels. He does eventually find a love interest in a nurse who replies with "G Is For Gumshoe" when he asks if she's reading a Sue Grafton novel.
In Stieg Larsson's novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, protagonist Mikael Blomkvist sits down with "a mystery by Sue Grafton."
In the Superego podcast Season 3 Episode 14, guest star and famous Twitter personality Rob Delaney impersonates Sue Grafton.[26]
In Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series, Sue Grafton's alphabet series of novels is discussed on several occasions. Block has a running gag in which Rhodenbarr and his friend Carolyn make up fictitious titles for Grafton's books based on the alphabet. At one point Carolyn states that she is convinced Kinsey is gay (ostensibly because Carolyn is too) and provides some argument to support her position, though Rhodenbarr is skeptical.
References
Natalie Hevener Kaufman, Carol McGinnis Kay (1997). "G" Is for Grafton: The World of Kinsey Millhone (Hardcover ed.). Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-5446-4.

Footnotes
1. "Sue Grafton". IMDb.com. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
2. "Questions and Answers". Sue Grafton Website. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
3. "The Kinsey Report". Sue Grafton Website. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
4. "'Lolly-Madonna' changed lives". Anchorage Daily News. July 8, 1973. p. 14.
5. "A Conversation with Sue Grafton". Sue Grafton Website. 1996. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
6. O'Connor, John J. (March 9, 1983). "TV Movie: 'Svengali'". New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
7. "More credits for'Svengali'". New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
8. White, Claire E. "A Conversation with Sue Grafton". Writers Write. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
9. "Bestselling Mystery Writer Sue Grafton To Speak at Annual Literary Voices Event". The Metropolitan Library System of Oklahoma County. 2007. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
10. Brantingham, Barney (July 1, 2008). "W Is for Writers Conference; Sue Grafton Is Kinsey Millhone". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
11. Gulbransen, Susan (September 1, 2002). "Racing Time: Alphabet author Sue Grafton counts down to Zero". Book. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
12. "Sue Grafton". Sue Grafton Website. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
13. Richards, Linda L. (1997). ""G" Is for Grafton: Sue Grafton's Murderous Moments". January Magazine. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
14. "Anthony Awards". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
15. "Bouchercon World Mystery Convention : Anthony Awards and History". Bouchercon.info. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
16. "Sue Grafton". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
17. "YWCA to honor Grafton". Lexington Herald-Leader. June 4, 2000. p. H5.
18. "History of Guests of Honor". Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
19. http://www.leftcoastcrime.org/2014/
20. http://www.privateeyewriters.com/shamus_winners.html
21. Lolly-Madonna XXX at the Internet Movie Database
22. Schwarzbaum, Lisa (January 13, 2007). "The Coma-Back Kid". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
23. Fenno, Christine (October 28, 2007). "The Office: See Spot Not Run". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
24. Crust, Kevin (November 10, 2006). "He's hearing things". Los Angeles Times. p. E1.
25. Silvis, Steffen (April 11, 2007). "One character in search of an author". The Prague Post.
26. "Sue Grafton – The Superego Podcast: Profiles In Self-Obsession". Gosuperego.com. July 1, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2012.

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Gardner, Julia Elizabeth. Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky : (Re)writing the Hardboiled Genre. Lexington, Ky.: [s.n.], 2001. Print.
Young Library Theses 5th Floor Stacks (Theses 2001)

Kaufman, Natalie Hevener., and Carol McGinnis Kay. "G" Is for Grafton : The World of Kinsey Millhone. 1st ed. New York: Henry Holt, 1997. Print.
PS3557.R13 Z75 1997, Special Collections Research Center Closed Stacks

Beattie, L. Elisabeth, Wade Hall, Susan. Lippman, and University Press of Kentucky. Conversations with Kentucky Writers. Lexington: U of Kentucky, 1996. Kentucky Remembered. Web.
PS266.K4 C66 1996, Young Library Books - 5th Floor