1. Conrad Potter Aiken was an American writer and poet, honored with a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was United States Poet Laureate from 1950 to 1952.
20 Facts About Conrad Aiken
1. 2.
Conrad Aiken's published works include poetry, short stories, novels, literary criticism, a play, and an autobiography.
3.
In Savannah, Conrad Aiken's father became a respected physician and eye surgeon, while his mother was the daughter of a prominent Massachusetts Unitarian minister.
4.
On February 27,1901, William Ford Conrad Aiken murdered his wife and then committed suicide.
5.
At Harvard, Aiken edited the Advocate with T S Eliot, who became a lifelong friend, colleague, and influence.
6.
Conrad Aiken was strongly influenced by symbolism, especially in his earlier works.
7.
Conrad Aiken wrote the widely anthologized short story "Silent Snow, Secret Snow", partially based on his childhood tragedy.
8.
Conrad Aiken wrote or edited more than 51 books, the first of which was published in 1914, two years after his graduation from Harvard.
9.
Conrad Aiken's work includes novels, short stories, reviews, an autobiography, and poetry.
10.
Conrad Aiken received numerous awards and honors for his writing, though for most of his lifetime, he received little public attention.
11.
Consequently, despite Freud's strong influence on Conrad Aiken, Conrad Aiken never met the noted psychoanalyst.
12.
Conrad Aiken was married three times: firstly to Jessie McDonald ; secondly to Clarissa Lorenz ; and thirdly to the painter Mary Hoover.
13.
Conrad Aiken fathered three children by his first wife Jessie: John Aiken, Jane Aiken Hodge and Joan Aiken, all of whom became writers.
14.
Conrad Aiken returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a tutor at Harvard from 1927 to 1928.
15.
In 1936, Conrad Aiken met his third wife, Mary, in Boston.
16.
Conrad Aiken died on 17 August 1973, aged 84, and was buried in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, on the banks of the Wilmington River.
17.
Conrad Aiken's widow was buried beside him after her death in 1992.
18.
Conrad Aiken was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 1934, Academy of American Poets fellowship in 1957, Huntington Hartford Foundation Award in 1960, and Brandeis University Creative Arts Award in 1967.
19.
Conrad Aiken was the first Georgia-born author to win a Pulitzer Prize, and was named Georgia's Poet Laureate in 1973.
20.
Conrad Aiken was the first winner of the Poetry Society of America's Shelley Memorial Award, in 1929.