Eudora Welty 1909-2001 Born: Jackson, MS “Through travel I first became aware of the outside world; it was through travel that I found my own introspective way into becoming a part of it.”

Welty is known for: capturing life in the Deep South creating vivid portraits of the landscape conveying the shared attitudes of the people confronting hardships/sorrows of life in poor, rural areas but… always keeping a positive, optimistic outlook "Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them."

Education & Work 1929: graduated from the Univ. of Wisconsin, after transferring from Mississippi State College for Women – marketing major 1930: enrolled in Columbia School of Business; Depression caused hardships forcing her to return to MS the next year 1931: Publicist for government agency – traveled the state interviewing & photographing people; this experience inspired her to write

Home …home of Eudora Welty, from 1925-2001, and the home where she wrote almost all of her fiction and essays. Today it is a National Historic Landmark on Pinehurst Street in Jackson, Mississippi. Garden 1925-1945: Welty worked at her mother’s side planting, watering, and weeding. “I think that people have lost the working garden. We used to get down on our hands and knees. The absolute contact between hand and the earth, the intimacy of it, that is the instinct of a gardener.”

Interesting Facts Several of Welty’s stories have been made into movies, such as “A Worn Path,” and The Ponder Heart. Her 1984 book One Writer’s Beginnings has inspired countless writers young & old. In 1921 Welty won $25 for writing a winning jingle; contest promoters said they “hope she continued to improve in poetry to such an extent as to win fame.” Welty was a renown photographer. Her final collection was called “Country Churchyards,” featuring local cemeteries in MS.

Literary Awards 1972: Gold Medal – National Institute of Arts & Letters 1973: Pulitzer Prize for The Optimist’s Daughter 1979: American Book Award – National Medal for Literature 1980: Medal of Freedom awarded by President Jimmy Carter 1986: National Endowment for the Arts Medal 1991 National Book Awards: Eudora Welty, recipient of the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Welty was awarded more than a dozen honorary doctorates from such prestigious universities such as Princeton.

Welty became a leading American writer of the 20th century. Her rumored last words, when the doctor asked her if he could do anything for her on her deathbed... "No, but thank you for inviting me to the party."