Ellis Parker Butler

Born in Muscatine, Iowa, in 1869, Ellis Parker Butler became one of the most productive American magazine writers of his era. He published more than 30 books and well over 2,000 stories and essays during a career that stretched across several decades.

He is most closely associated with humorous fiction, especially "Pigs Is Pigs," the story that made him widely famous. Butler had a gift for taking ordinary situations, adding a touch of bureaucracy or human stubbornness, and letting the comedy build in a way that was both clever and easy to enjoy.

Beyond his best-known story, he wrote broadly for popular magazines and was an active figure in literary life. He died in Massachusetts in 1937, but his reputation has lasted because his writing is brisk, funny, and full of affection for the odd ways people behave.