Van Powell

Born Ardon Van Buren Powell in Macon, Georgia, on March 31, 1886, he moved to New York as a child and graduated from Dewitt Clinton High School. Although he was visually impaired from birth, he built a writing career first as a theater reviewer for Billboard and then in the early movie industry, where he worked on screen stories and adaptations during the 1910s and early 1920s.

When film production shifted west, Powell stayed in New York and began writing adventure fiction for younger readers under the names A. Van Buren Powell and Van Powell. He created several series, including the Bud Bright books, the Mystery Boys stories, and the aviation-themed Sky Scouts adventures. He also wrote The Photoplay Synopsis in 1919, a guide for aspiring screenplay writers.

In the early 1940s, as his eyesight worsened, Powell left writing and became an insurance broker in Vineland, New Jersey, where he spent the last decades of his life. He died there on August 20, 1962; his obituary said he had written 22 books. His work is still remembered for its brisk pace, puzzle-solving plots, and sense of youthful adventure.