Fanny Fern
Novelist, Author
1811 – 1872
Who was Fanny Fern?
Fanny Fern, born Sara Willis, was an American newspaper columnist, humorist, novelist, and author of children's stories in the 1850s-1870s. Fern's great popularity has been attributed to her conversational style and sense of what mattered to her mostly middle-class female readers. By 1855, Fern was the highest-paid columnist in the United States, commanding $100 per week for her New York Ledger column.
A collection of her columns published in 1853 sold 70,000 copies in its first year. Her best-known work, the fictional autobiography Ruth Hall, has become a popular subject among feminist literary scholars.
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- Born
- Jul 9, 1811
Portland - Also known as
- Sara Willis
- Sarah Payson Willis
- Parents
- Siblings
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- Hartford Female Seminary
- Lived in
- Maine
- Saugus
- Died
- Oct 10, 1872
Manhattan
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
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"Fanny Fern." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/fanny_fern>.
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