author
Josephine Preston Peabody
1874–1922
An American poet and dramatist whose writing moved between fairy-tale wonder and sharp social feeling, she brought lyric beauty to both children’s stories and the stage. Her best-known work, The Piper, won major recognition in its day and helped secure her place in early 20th-century American literature.
5 Audiobooks
Old Greek Folk Stories Told Anew
by Josephine Preston Peabody
The Piper: A Play in Four Acts
by Josephine Preston Peabody
The Singing Man: A Book of Songs and Shadows
by Josephine Preston Peabody
The Book of the Little Past
by Josephine Preston Peabody
The singing leaves : A book of songs and spells
by Josephine Preston Peabody
About the author
Born in Brooklyn on May 30, 1874, and raised in Boston, she studied at Girls’ Latin School and Radcliffe College before building a literary career as a poet, playwright, and teacher. She also taught English at Wellesley, and her writing was admired for its musical language, emotional warmth, and interest in both myth and everyday life.
Her books include The Wayfarers, The Singing Leaves, and The Book of the Little Past, while her dramatic work The Piper became especially celebrated after winning the Stratford-on-Avon prize in 1910. Alongside imaginative and historical themes, her work could also turn toward questions of labor and social justice, giving her poetry a wider human reach.
She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on December 4, 1922. Though she is less widely read today than some of her contemporaries, her work still stands out for its grace, idealism, and ability to speak to both childlike wonder and adult conscience.