Leonard Daniel Wickenden (March 24, 1913 – October 27, 1989) was an American author and editor. Notable works include ''The Running of the Deer'', ''The Wayfarers'' and '' The Amazing Vacation''.

Biography

Wickenden was born by English-born parents in

Tyrone, Pennsylvania Tyrone is a borough in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States, located northeast of Altoona, on the Little Juniata River. Tyrone was of considerable commercial importance in the twentieth century. It was an outlet for the Clearfield coal ...

and grew up in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. He graduated from

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

in 1935. At the early stages of his career, he published short stories on Vanity Fair and

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

. His first significant contribution as a novelist was ''The Running of the Deer'', a best-selling book about two families from Long Island. He revisited the theme of family life for his next novel, ''Walk Like a Mortal''. He spent a 10-month period in

Panajachel Panajachel (, Pana) is a town in the southwestern part of the Guatemalan Highlands, less than from Guatemala City, in the Departments of Guatemala, department of Sololá (department), Sololá. It serves as the administrative centre for the surro ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, living in a village next to

Lake Atitlán Lake Atitlán (, ) is a lake in the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre mountain range. The lake is located in the Sololá Department of southwestern Guatemala. It is known as the deepest lake in Central America. Name Atitlán means "betwe ...

with other artists. He returned to the United States in May 1948. In 1953 he became associate editor at book publisher

Harcourt Brace Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. It was known at different stages in its history as Harcourt Brace, & Co. and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. From 1919 to 1 ...

. He eventually became senior editor, and he worked with notable authors that included

Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short-story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel '' The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerou ...

James Gould Cozzens James Gould Cozzens (August 19, 1903 – August 9, 1978) was a Pulitzer prize-winning American writer whose work enjoyed an unusual degree of popular success and critical acclaim for more than three decades. His 1949 Pulitzer win was for the WWII ...

, and

Wendell Berry Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays o ...

. He retired in 1978, but he continued work in consulting and editing as a freelancer. He died of heart attack at his residence in

Weston, Connecticut Weston ( ) is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,354 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and had the highest median income in the state of Connecticut. The town is part of the ...

on October 27, 1989.

Works

* ''The Running of the Deer'' (1937) * ''Walk Like a Mortal'' (1940) * ''The Wayfarers'' (1945) * ''Tobias Brandywine'' (1948) * ''The Dry Season'' (1950 ) * ''The Red Carpet'' (1952) * '' The Amazing Vacation'' (1956)

References

External links

Leonard Daniel (Dan) Wickenden (AC 1935) Papers
from the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Wickenden, Dan 1913 births 1989 deaths People from Tyrone, Pennsylvania American book editors 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American writers American people of English descent Amherst College alumni