author
Harry Hervey
1900–1951
An adventurous early-20th-century writer, he moved easily between novels, short stories, and Hollywood screenplays, often drawing on Asian and South Seas settings. His career linked pulp-era storytelling with major films such as Shanghai Express and Road to Singapore.
2 Audiobooks
Caravans By Night: A Romance of India
by Harry Hervey
The Black Parrot : A tale of the Golden Chersonese
by Harry Hervey
About the author
Born in Beaumont, Texas, on November 5, 1900, Harry Hervey became an American novelist, short-story writer, and screenwriter whose work was known for romance, travel, and far-flung settings. Early in his career he published fiction including Caravans by Night and The Black Parrot, building a reputation for colorful tales set in India, Southeast Asia, and the South Seas.
Hervey later became especially prominent in film. He is remembered as a sought-after screenwriter and story contributor in the first half of the 20th century, with credits connected to movies such as Shanghai Express (1932), Road to Singapore (1940), and Peking Express (1951). That mix of literary adventure and cinematic drama helped make his work distinctive.
He died in New York City on August 12, 1951, at the age of 50. Though he is less widely read today than some of his Hollywood contemporaries, his career still offers a vivid glimpse of popular storytelling between the pulp magazine era and classic studio filmmaking.