Edna Ferber

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1885 and raised largely in the Midwest, Edna Ferber first worked as a newspaper reporter before becoming one of the most widely read American writers of the 20th century. She wrote with a strong sense of place and a gift for memorable, capable characters, especially women pushing against the limits of their time.

Her breakthrough books included So Big, which won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel in 1925, as well as Show Boat, Cimarron, and Giant. Many of her stories went on to have long afterlives in other forms: Show Boat became a landmark musical, while Cimarron and Giant became major films.

Ferber died in New York City in 1968, but her books still stand out for the way they blend big, readable drama with an alert eye for class, ambition, prejudice, and change in American life.