author
Fanny Butcher
1888–1987
A sharp, lively voice in American literary journalism, she spent decades bringing books and writers to a wide newspaper audience in Chicago. Her long career put her in the middle of the city’s cultural life and in close touch with many major authors of the 20th century.
1 Audiobook
Christmas in Chicago
by Fanny Butcher
About the author
Born in Fredonia, Kansas, in 1888 and raised in Chicago, Fanny Butcher became one of the best-known literary figures in the city’s newspaper world. She studied at Lewis Institute and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1910 before joining the Chicago Tribune in 1913.
Over the years, she worked in many roles at the paper, including society editor, crime reporter, fashion editor, and music critic, but she became especially influential as a literary editor and book reviewer. She was known for writing about books in a way that welcomed general readers, and she also ran a Chicago bookshop for a time in the 1920s.
Butcher remained associated with the Tribune until her retirement in 1963 and later published the memoir Many Lives, One Love in 1971. She died in 1987, leaving behind a reputation as an energetic champion of books, writers, and Chicago’s literary culture.