Don Marquis

Born in Illinois in 1878, Don Marquis built his career as a journalist before becoming widely known as a humorist, poet, novelist, and playwright. He worked on newspapers including the Atlanta Journal and later wrote for New York papers, where his column writing helped make him a national literary presence.

He is most closely associated with Archy and Mehitabel, the much-loved characters from his newspaper pieces: Archy, a cockroach who types poems by hurling himself at the keys, and Mehitabel, an alley cat with a large and unruly view of life. Those pieces combined comedy, melancholy, and sharp social observation, which is a big part of why they lasted.

During his lifetime, he was admired not only for those comic creations but also for his range and steady newspaper output. He died in New York in 1937, and his work remains a distinctive blend of newsroom energy, literary playfulness, and affectionate skepticism about human nature.