Sherwood Anderson

Born in Camden, Ohio, in 1876, Sherwood Anderson grew up in small Midwestern towns and drew heavily on that world in his fiction. Before turning seriously to literature, he worked a string of jobs and found success in business and advertising, experiences that gave his writing its sharp eye for ordinary work, ambition, and disappointment.

Anderson became one of the key American literary voices of the early 20th century. He is most closely associated with Winesburg, Ohio (1919), the book that made his name, but he also wrote novels, memoir, essays, and many short stories. His style was direct, intimate, and psychologically searching, with a special gift for revealing the loneliness, longing, and private strangeness of everyday people.

Critics and fellow writers have long seen him as an important influence on modern American fiction. Though his reputation has shifted over time, his best work still stands out for its sympathy, honesty, and feeling for lives that might otherwise go unnoticed. He died in 1941 while traveling in Panama.