Shirley Ann Grau (July 8, 1929August 3, 2020) was an American writer. Born in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

. Her novels are set primarily in the Deep South and explore issues of race and gender. In 1965 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature for her novel ''

The Keepers of the House ''The Keepers of the House'' is a 1964 novel by Shirley Ann Grau set in rural Alabama. It covers seven generations of the Howland family that lived in the same house and developed a community around themselves. As such, it is a metaphor for the ...

'', set in a fictional Alabama town.

Early life

Grau was born in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, Louisiana, on July 8, 1929. Her father was a dentist; her mother was a housewife. She grew up in and around Montgomery and Selma, Alabama, with her mother. She graduated in 1950

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

with a B.A. degree from Newcomb College, the women's coordinate college of

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

Career

Grau's first collection of stories ''The Black Prince'' was nominated for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

in 1956. Nine years later, her novel ''

'' was awarded the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It deals with an

interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 1 ...

that was illegal, and the implications of the mixed-race children later passing as white. The morning she was called about the Pulitzer Prize, she thought it was a practical joke from a friend whose voice she thought she recognized. I was awfully short-tempered that morning because I'd been up all night with one of my children,' Grau said ... 'So, I said to the voice I mistook, "yeah and I'm the Queen of England too," and I hung up on him. The Pulitzer Prize committee member did not give up and called her publisher

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

. "The news got to me, but that was very embarrassing."

Themes

Grau's writing explores issues of death, destruction,

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

, and

miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...

, frequently set in historical Alabama or Louisiana. Although she did not restrict her writing to the Deep South or to stories about women, she is recognized as an important writer in the fields of

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

feminist literature Feminist literature is fiction, nonfiction, drama, or poetry, which supports the feminist goals of defining, establishing, and defending equal civil, political, economic, and social rights for women. It often identifies women's roles as unequal ...

, and Southern literature.

Personal life

In 1955 Grau married James K. Feibleman, a fellow writer and a professor of philosophy at Tulane University. The pair were introduced by Grau's friend, who was also a student of Feibleman. She legally changed her surname to his, but retained her maiden name when writing. Together, they had four children—two sons (Ian and William) and two daughters (Nora and Katherine). The family settled in Metairie, on the outskirts of New Orleans. They were still married when he died in 1987. Grau died on August 3, 2020, at a

retirement home A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple in ...

Kenner, Louisiana Kenner (historically french: Cannes-Brûlées) is a city in Louisiana, United States. It is the largest city in Jefferson Parish, and is the largest incorporated suburban city of New Orleans. The population was 66,448 at the 2020 census. History ...

. She was 91 and had suffered from complications of a stroke.

Bibliography

*''The Black Prince, and Other Stories'' (short stories; 1955) *''The Hard Blue Sky'' (1958) *''The House on Coliseum Street'' (1961) *''

'' (1964) *''The Condor Passes'' (1971) *''The Wind Shifting West'' (short stories; 1973) *''Evidence of Love'' (1977) *''Nine Women'' (short stories; 1986) *''Roadwalkers'' (1994) *''Selected Stories'' (2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grau, Shirley Ann 1929 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American women novelists Novelists from Louisiana Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners Tulane University alumni Writers from New Orleans