author
Norman Matson
1893–1965
A wide-ranging American novelist, he moved from literary fiction into fantasy and is now most often remembered for helping bring a famous comic-witch tale to print. His career also brushed against early Hollywood, giving his work an unusual mix of literary ambition and popular appeal.
1 Audiobook
Flecker's magic
by Norman Matson
About the author
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on October 30, 1893, Norman Haghejm Matson was an American writer whose novels included Trumpets Sound No More, Tap Day, and The Passionate Witch. Reliable bibliographic sources agree on his birth date and place, and identify him as a U.S. author active across mainstream fiction and fantasy.
Matson is best known today for completing The Passionate Witch after the death of Thorne Smith; the novel was published in 1941 and later became the basis for the film I Married a Witch. Reference sources also connect him with screenwriting work, which helps explain why his name turns up in both literary and film history.
Some details of his personal life are reported inconsistently across sources, so it is safest to say that he was closely associated with writer Susan Glaspell during part of his life. He died in New York on October 18, 1965.