author
Harriet Maxon Thayer
1889–1984
A writer of fairy tales and poems, this early 20th-century American author left behind a small but distinctive body of work. Her stories, still read in digital editions today, mix whimsy with gentle lessons about kindness, character, and imagination.
1 Audiobook
The genial sultan; The princess who could not see; Late for the coronation
by Harriet Maxon Thayer
About the author
Harriet Maxon Thayer was an American writer born in 1889 and died in 1984. Public-domain library records confirm her as the author of The Genial Sultan; The Princess Who Could Not See; Late for the Coronation, a 1923 collection of fairy tales, and booksellers’ and catalog records also associate her with the 1936 poetry collection Anniversary and Other Poems.
Her surviving work suggests a writer drawn to fantasy, fable, and lyrical expression rather than a large commercial career. The fairy tales linked to her name are light, imaginative stories aimed at younger readers, with an old-fashioned charm that fits the children’s literature of their time.
Very little widely available biographical information about her appears to survive online, which makes the work itself the clearest introduction. Even so, the books that remain show a voice interested in wonder, feeling, and the small moral turns that make classic fairy tales memorable.