author
Marie Manning
d. 1945
Best known as the original “Beatrice Fairfax,” she helped invent the newspaper advice column and became a familiar voice to readers looking for practical, personal guidance. She also wrote fiction and spent decades in American journalism at a time when women were still fighting for space in the newsroom.
1 Audiobook
Judith of the Plains
by Marie Manning
About the author
Writing under the pen name Beatrice Fairfax, she launched what is widely described as the first newspaper advice column in the United States. The feature began in the late 1890s and became a model for the advice columns that followed, blending sympathy, common sense, and a lively newspaper style.
She worked as a journalist and novelist, building a career that stretched across the early 20th century. In addition to her newspaper work, she published fiction including Lord Alingham, Bankrupt and Judith of the Plains, showing a range beyond the column that made her famous.
Born in Washington, D.C., Marie Manning died there in 1945. Her legacy is easy to spot: every modern advice columnist owes something to the path she opened.