 | birthplace = Jackson, Mississippi, United States | deathdate =  | deathplace = Jackson, Mississippi, United States | occupation = Author, photographer | nationality = | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards =  | signature = | portaldisp = yes }}  '''Eudora Alice Welty''' (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South.  Her book, ''The Optimist's Daughter'', won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards.  She was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America.  Her house in Jackson, Mississippi, is a National Historic Landmark and open to the public as a museum.  == Biography == Eudora Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi on April 13, 1909. Welty was the daughter of Christian and Chestina Welty.  She grew up with brothers Edward and Walter.  In her early life, her family was vitally important in instilling in her all the qualities that would make her such a great author. Eudora’s mother was a well-read schoolteacher who taught Eudora the alphabet. Eudora soon developed her own love of reading, reinforced by her mother  who believed that “any room in our house, at any time in the day, was there to read in, or to be read to” (Welty 841). Her father, who worked as an insurance executive, was intrigued by gadgets and machines and inspired in Eudora a love of all things mechanical. She later would use technology for symbolism in her stories and would also become an avid photographer, like her father (Johnston).  Eudora was a pioneering and adaptable young woman; she succeeded at multiple colleges in a time when most women didn’t even attend college. From 1925 to 1927, she studied at Mississippi College for Women and then transferred to University of Wisconsin to complete her studies in English Literature. Next, she journeyed to Columbia University, in New York. Here she studied advertising at the suggestion of her father, but she graduated at the height of the Great Depression and struggled to find work in New York. She returned to Jackson in 1931, and soon after suffered the death of her father, who died of leukemia. She took a job at a local radio station and wrote about Jackson society for the Tennessee newspaper Commercial Appeal (Makowsky 341-342). In 1935, she made an influential career choice when she began to work for the Works Progress Administration. As a publicity agent, she collected stories, conducted interviews, and took photographs of daily life in Mississippi. It was here that she got a chance to observe the Southern life and human relationships that she would later use in her short stories (Marr 52). During this time she also held meetings in her house with fellow writers and friends, a group she called the Night-Blooming Cereus Club. Three years later, she left her job and truly began her career as a writer (Johnston).  In 1936, she published “The Death of a Traveling Salesman” in the literary magazine ''Manuscript'', and then proceeded to publish stories in several other noted publications, including the New Yorker (Marr 50). She solidified her place as an influential southern writer when she penned her first book of short stories, ''A Curtain of Green''. Her newfound success won her a seat on the staff of the ''New York Times'' book review and also a Guggenheim Fellowship grant that allowed her to travel to France, England, Ireland, and Germany (“Eudora Welty”). While abroad, she spent some time as a resident lecturer at Oxford and Cambridge. Then, in 1960, she returned home to Jackson once again to look after her elderly mother and two brothers (Makowsky 342).  Six years later, Eudora’s family was gone; at 52 she had no immediate family left. She continued to write, and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for her novel, ''The Optimist’s Daughter'' (“Eudora Welty”). She also published a collection of photographs depicting the Great Depression titled “One Time, One Place” in 1971. She then lectured at Harvard and eventually turned the speeches into a three-part book entitled One Writer’s Beginnings (Johnston). She continued to live in her family house in Jackson until her death on July 23, 2001 (Makowsky 341).  ==Photography== During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Welty worked as a publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration, a job that sent her around Mississippi. On her own time, she took some memorable photographs of people from all economic and social classes. Collections of her photographs were published as ''One Time, One Place'' (1971) and ''Photographs'' (1989). Her photography was the basis for several of her short stories, including &quot;Why I Live at the PO&quot;, which was inspired by a woman she photographed ironing in the back of a small post office. Although focused on her writing, Welty continued to take photographs until the 1950s.[ Karen Rosenberg, &quot;Eudora Welty's work as a young writer: Taking pictures&quot;], ''The New York Times'', 14 Jan 2009, accessed 26 May 2009   ==Writing Career &amp; Major Works== Welty's first short story, &quot;Death of a Traveling Salesman&quot;, appeared in 1936. Her work attracted the attention of author Katherine Anne Porter, who became a mentor to Welty and wrote the foreword to Welty's first short story collection, ''A Curtain of Green'', in 1941. The book immediately established Welty as one of American literature's leading lights and featured the stories &quot;Why I Live at the P.O.&quot;, &quot;Petrified Man&quot;, and the frequently anthologized ''A Worn Path''. Excited by the printing of Welty's works in publications such as the ''Atlantic Monthly'', the Junior League of Jackson, of which Welty was a member, requested permission from the publishers to reprint some of her works.  Turning out over forty short stories, five novels, three works of nonfiction, and one children’s book, the following is only a sampling of Welty's works.  “Why I Live at the P.O.” (1941): This short story was published with two others in 1941 by The Atlantic Monthly (Marrs 70). It was republished later that year in Welty’s first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green. The story is about Sister, and how she ends up living at the P.O. as a result of her aggravating family. Seen by critics as quality Southern literature, the story comically captures family relationships. Like most of her short stories, Welty masterfully captures Southern idiom and places importance on location and customs (Hauser “A Curtain of Green”).  “A Worn Path” (1941): Also published in the Atlantic Monthly and A Curtain of Green, this work is seen as one of Welty’s finest short stories, winning the second place O. Henry Award in 1941 (Makowsky 345). It follows Phoenix, an old black woman, who is journeying to town to buy medicine for her sick grandson. With an emphasis on place like many of Welty’s other works, many see this story as special because it contains evidence of Welty’s use of mythology in her writing (Wampler).  The Robber Bridegroom (1942): As the debut novel in Welty’s literary career, this work was a surprise to some. The book deviated from the psychologically-inclined path she seemed to be travelling down by presenting static, fairy-tale characters. Some critics suggest that she was worried about “encroaching on the turf of the male literary giant to the north of her in Oxford, Mississippi-William Faulkner” (Makowsky 347), and therefore wrote in a fairy-tale style instead of a historical one. Whether or not critics and readers liked or disliked the book, most saw it as a modern Southern fairy-tale and noted that it employs themes and characters reminiscent of the Grimm Brothers’ works (Hauser “Miss Welty’s Fairy Tale”).   ''The Optimist's Daughter'' (1972): Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, this is believed by some to be Welty’s novel writing at its finest (“Eudora Welty”). It was written at a much later date than the bulk of her work and shows that over this lapse in writing she did nothing but improve. As New York Times writer Howard Moss states, the book is “a miracle of compression, the kind of book, small in scope but profound in its implications, that rewards a lifetime of work”. The plot focuses on family struggles when the daughter and the second wife of a judge confront each other in the limited confines of a hospital room while the judge undergoes eye surgery.  In 1992, Welty was awarded the Rea Award for the Short Story for her lifetime contributions to the American short story.  Welty was a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, founded in 1987. She also taught creative writing at colleges and in workshops. She lived near Jackson's Belhaven College and was a common sight among the people of her hometown.  ==Literary criticism and non-fiction== Eudora Welty was a prolific writer who created stories in multiple genres. Throughout her writing are the recurring themes of the paradox of human relationships, the importance of place (a recurring theme in most Southern writing), and the importance of mythological influences that help shape the theme (Swanson 2493).  	Welty’s interest in the conflicting relationships between individuals and their communities, according to the writer herself, stems out of her natural abilities as an observer (Welty 862). Perhaps the best examples can be found within the short stories in A Curtain of Green. “Why I Live at the P.O.” comically illustrates the conflict between Sister and her immediate community, her family. This particular story uses lack of proper communication to showcase the underlying theme of the paradox of human connection (Swanson 2484). “Death of a Traveling Salesman” directly reveals the struggle for human relationships by contrasting the successful loving relationship of the young couple to the lonely, loveless salesman who dies alone. Another case in point is Miss Eckhart of The Golden Apples, who is considered an outsider in her town. Welty shows that this piano teacher’s independent lifestyle allows her to follow her passions, but also highlights Miss Eckhart’s longing to start a family and to be seen by the community as someone who belongs in Morgana (Johnston). As is apparent, her stories are often characterized by the struggle to retain identity while keeping community relationships.  	Place is vitally important in arguably every story Welty has ever written. Welty believed that place is what makes fiction seem real, because with place comes customs, feelings, and associations. Place answers the questions, “What happened? Who’s here? Who’s coming?” Place is a prompt to memory; thus the human mind is what makes place significant. This is the job of the storyteller. “A Worn Path” is one short story that proves how place shapes how a story is perceived. Within the tale, the main character, Phoenix, must fight to overcome the barriers within the vividly described Southern landscape as she makes her trek to the nearest town (Swanson 2484). “The Wide Net” is another of Welty’s short stories that uses place to define mood and plot. The river in the story is viewed differently by each character. Some see it as a food source, others see it as deadly, and some see it as a sign that “the outside world is full of endurance” (Welty 220), the importance being that the way they view the river goes quite a ways toward determining their character and mood (Swanson 2485).  	Welty is noted for using mythology to connect her specific characters and locations to universal truths and themes. Examples can be found within the short story “A Worn Path,” the novel Delta Wedding, and the collection of short stories The Golden Apples. In “A Worn Path,” the character Phoenix has much in common with the mythical bird. Phoenixes are said to be red and gold and are known for their endurance and dignity. Phoenix, the old Black woman, is described as being clad in a red handkerchief with undertones of gold and is undeniably noble and enduring in her difficult quest for the medicine her grandson needs to live (Wampler). In &quot;Death of a Traveling Salesman (not to be confused with Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman) the husband is comparable to Prometheus. He comes home after bringing fire to his boss and is full of male libido and physical strength. Another common mythological reference is that of Medusa, who is used in &quot;The Petrified Man&quot; and other stories to represent powerful or vulgar women. Locations can also allude to mythology, as Welty proves in her novel Delta Wedding. As Professor Veronica Makowsky from the University of Connecticut writes, the setting of the Mississippi Delta has “suggestions of the goddess of love, Aphrodite or Venus-shells like that upon which Venus rose from the sea and female genitalia, as in the mound of Venus and Delta of Venus” (349). The title The Golden Apples is also a mythological reference referring to the difference between people who seek silver apples and those who seek golden apples. It is originally from W.B. Yeats’ “The Song of the Wandering Aengus,” and for Welty’s purposes, serves to illuminate the two types of attitudes people, specifically her characters, can take about life (Makowsky 350).  	As is apparent, Welty was a skilled writer who was able to present the realities of human life briefly and powerfully. She presented these complexities and relationships using tools like place and mythology to reinforce her themes.   * ''Three Papers on Fiction'' (criticism), 1962 * ''The Eye of the Story'' (selected essays and reviews), 1978 * ''One Writer's Beginnings (book)'' (autobiography), 1984 * ''The Norton Book of Friendship'' (editor, with Roland A. Sharp), 1991 * ''3 Minutes or Less'' (selected essay), 2001   in Jackson, Mississippi]]  ==Honors== * 1954 – William Dean Howells medal for fiction, ''The Ponder Heart''[ Nicholas Dawidoff, &quot;At Home with Eudora Welty' Only the Typewriter Is Silent&quot;], ''The New York Times'', 10 Aug 1995, accessed 26 May 2009 * 1973 – Pulitzer Prize, ''The Optimist's Daughter'' * 1980 – Presidential Medal of Freedom * 1981 - Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia * 1983 – Invited by Harvard University to give the first annual Massey Lectures in the History of American Civilization[ Carol Ann Johnston, &quot;Eudora Welty&quot;], The Mississippi Writer's Page, University of Mississippi, Feb 2006, accessed 25 May 2009 * 1986 – National Medal of Arts. * 1991 – National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American LettersSuzanne Marrs, ''Eudora Welty: A Biography'', New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005, p. 547 * 1991 – Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author AwardDana Sterling, [ &quot;Welty reads to audience at Helmerich award dinner&quot;], ''Tulsa World'', December 7, 1991. * 1992 – Rea Award for the Short StorySuzanne Marrs, ''Eudora Welty: A Biography'', New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005, p. 549 * 1993 – Charles Frankel Prize, National Endowment for the Humanities * 1993 – PEN/Malamud Award for the Short Story * 1993 – Distinguished Alumni Award, American Association of State Colleges and Universities * 1996 – French Légion d’Honneur[ Carol Ann Johnston, &quot;Eudora Welty&quot;], ''The Mississippi Writer's Page'', University of Mississippi, Feb 2006, accessed 25 May 2009 * 1998 – First living author to have her works published in the prestigious Library of America series.  ==Short story collections== * ''A Worn Path'', 1940 * ''A Curtain of Green'', 1941 * ''The Wide Net and Other Stories'', 1943 * ''Music from Spain'', 1948 * ''The Golden Apples'', 1949 * ''Selected Stories'', 1954 * ''The Bride of the Innisfallen and Other Stories'', 1955 * ''Thirteen Stories'', 1965 * ''The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty'', 1982 * ''Moon Lake and Other Stories'', 1980 * ''Morgana: Two Stories from The Golden Apples'', 1988  ==Novels== * ''The Robber Bridegroom'' (novella), 1942 * ''Delta Wedding'', 1946 * ''The Ponder Heart'', 1954 * ''The Shoe Bird'' (juvenile), 1964 * ''Losing Battles'', 1970 * ''The Optimist's Daughter'', 1972  ==Commemoration== *Eudora, the name given to the Internet email program developed by Steve Dorner in 1990, was inspired by Welty's story &quot;Why I Live at the P.O.&quot;[ Eudora e-mail program] *The state of Mississippi established a &quot;Eudora Welty Day.&quot; *Each October, Mississippi University for Women hosts the &quot;Eudora Welty Writers' Symposium&quot; to promote and celebrate the work of contemporary Southern writers.[ *Mississippi State University sculpture professor, Critz Campbell, has designed furniture inspired by Welty that has been featured in the Smithsonian Magazine, New York Times, L.A. Times, Washington Post, Elle Magazine and the Discovery Channel.  