1. Author of A Separate Peace
John Knowles
Author of A Separate Peace
“All of my books are based on places, places I know very well and feel very deeply about. I begin with that place and then the characters and the plot emerge from it A Separate Peace began with a playing field at Exeter Academy.” – John Knowles

2. Childhood & Adolescence
He was born in 1926 in Fairmont, Virginia.
At age 15, Knowles was a student at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.
The U.S. declared war on Japan and entered WWII shortly after Knowles came to Exeter.
He graduated from
Exeter Academy in
1945.

3. Military & College
Knowles joined the U.S. Army Air Force’s Aviation Cadet Program after high school.
After completing several months in the program, he became a student at Yale University.
He obtained a
Bachelor’s Degree from from Yale in

4. Life After College
Knowles traveled to Europe, where he worked as a journalist until the mid 1950’s.
He returned to the U.S. in 1957, where he worked as an associate editor at Holiday magazine.

5. Writing A Separate Peace was Knowles’s first published piece.
It was published in England 1959.
It was published in the U.S. in 1960.
He quit his job at Holiday
magazine when the novel
became successful.
Knowles wrote eight other
books, a travel book, and a
collection of short stories.

6. Other Information
John Knowles was writer-in-residence at Princeton University and University of North Carolina.
A Separate Peace won the
William Faulkner Award and
the Richard and Hinda
Rosenthal Foundation Award.
Knowles died in 2001.

7. Questions Is it important to know about the author? Why?
Based on Knowles’s biography, what can you guess about A Separate Peace?

8. A Separate Peace
The book is set at a boarding school, Devon School. This school is based off of Exeter Academy.
Knowles based many characters off of former classmates, including Finny and Gene.
The central story begins less than a year after Pearl Harbor.

9. The War
In 1940, men ages were required to register for military duty.
After the U.S. entered the war, the age was lowered to 18.
Some men enlisted before they were drafted.

10. Works Cited
Biography of John Knowles. 6 Aug Gradesaver knowles/
Glencoe Mc-Graw Hill. A Separate Peace. Web.