16 Facts About Florence King

Florence Virginia King was an American novelist, essayist and columnist.

Florence King was a traditionalist conservative, but not a "movement conservative," and she objected to much of the populist direction of the contemporary American Right.

Florence King was an active Episcopalian, a member of Phi Alpha Theta, and a monarchist.

Florence King grew up in the District with her parents, her maternal grandmother, and her grandmother's maid.

In many of her writings, Florence King often referred to the comical contradictions between the material reality of her lower middle class upbringing and the snobbish behavior of her grandmother.

In 1957, Florence King received her BA in history from American University in Washington DC, where she was inducted into Phi Alpha Theta.

Florence King had several occupations before she began writing as a career.

From 1964 to 1967, Florence King was a feature writer for the Raleigh News and Observer.

Florence King wrote a historical romance novel, Barbarian Princess, under the pseudonym Laura Buchanan.

Florence King admitted to having written numerous pornographic stories, pulp paperback books and erotica under various pseudonyms.

Florence King gained national attention with her column "The Misanthrope's Corner" in National Review, a conservative magazine of political and social commentary.

Florence King's most popular book, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady, is a semi-autobiographical work focusing on, among other things, her grandmother's attempts to mold King into a "Southern lady".

In Confessions, Florence King says she had relationships with both men and women during college: one woman she fell in love with was killed in a car crash.

In 1995, Florence King publicly accused the writer Molly Ivins of plagiarizing her work.

Florence King, who lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia in the later years of her life, retired in 2002, but resumed writing a monthly column for National Review in 2006, titled in 2007 "The Bent Pin".

Florence King died on January 6,2016, one day after her 80th birthday, from heart and pulmonary-related diseases.