Edith Ronald Mirrielees

author

Edith Ronald Mirrielees

1878–1962

A pioneering Stanford teacher of creative writing, she helped shape generations of writers and is often remembered as an early mentor to John Steinbeck. Her long academic life bridged classroom teaching, literary criticism, and the rise of creative writing as a serious field of study.

1 Audiobook

Atlantic Narratives: Modern Short Stories; Second Series

Atlantic Narratives: Modern Short Stories; Second Series

by Mary Antin, Elizabeth Ashe, Kathleen Carman, Cornelia A. P. (Cornelia Atwood Pratt) Comer, Mazo De la Roche, Annie Hamilton Donnell, James Edmund Dunning, Rebecca Hooper Eastman, William Addleman Ganoe, Lucy Huffaker, Joseph Husband, S. H. Kemper, Christina Krysto, Ellen Mackubin, Edith Ronald Mirrielees, Margaret Prescott Montague, Edward Morlae, Meredith Nicholson, Kathleen Thompson Norris, Laura Spencer Portor, Lucy Pratt, Elsie Singmaster, Charles Haskins Townsend, Edith Wyatt

About the author

Born in 1878, Edith Ronald Mirrielees became a longtime member of Stanford University's English department, serving there from 1909 until 1944 and remaining professor emeritus until her death in 1962. She is remembered as one of Stanford's early champions of creative writing at a time when the subject was still finding its place in universities.

Her influence reached well beyond the classroom. Archival and reference sources describe her as an inspiring teacher whose students included John Steinbeck, and her papers also connect her with notable literary figures such as Bernard DeVoto and Wallace Stegner. That record suggests both a lively teaching career and a lasting place in Stanford's literary history.

Mirrielees also wrote literary studies and textbooks, reflecting her dual role as scholar and teacher. Today, she stands out less for public fame than for the writers she encouraged and the academic path she helped open for creative writing in American higher education.