Donald Windham (July 2, 1920 – May 31, 2010) was an American novelist and memoirist. He is perhaps best known for his close friendships with

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics ...

and

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

. Born in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Windham moved with his then-boyfriend Fred Melton, an artist, to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1939. In 1942 Windham collaborated with Williams on the play, ''You Touched Me''!, which is based on a D. H. Lawrence short story with the same title. Windham received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1960. Windham became estranged from Williams after Williams published his book ''Memoirs'' (1975). Windham later published a volume of their correspondence, which Williams claimed was done without his permission. Windham remained a friend of Capote until Capote's death. Windham also met and befriended such diverse figures as Lincoln Kirstein, Pavel Tchelitchew, Paul Cadmus,

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

, Christopher Isherwood and Montgomery Clift, who became a lover of Windham's during the 1940s. In 1943, Windham met Sandy Campbell, an undergraduate student at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. In 1943 they began a relationship that would last until Campbell's death in 1988. Campbell frequently helped Windham publish books through the Stamperia Valdonega in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, Italy. Partially because Windham was influenced by his own life,

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

is one of many themes treated in his work. Windham's novels include '' The Dog Star'' (1950),Windham, Donald. ''The Dog Star''. Doubleday (1950) which was praised by André Gide and

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

, ''The Hero Continues'' (1960), which is likely based on Williams, ''Two People'' (1965) which is about a love affair between a New York stockbroker whose wife has left him and a 17-year-old Italian boy in Rome, and ''Tanaquil'' (1972), which is based on the life of George Platt Lynes. In the 1960s, Windham published a series of recollections about his childhood in the '' New Yorker''. These were collected in the autobiography '' Emblems of Conduct'', published in 1964. The book was warmly received. ''Lost Friendships'', a memoir of his friendship with Capote and Williams, was published in 1987. It is regarded by some as his best book. In June 2011 it was announced that

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

would administer the Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes.

References

*Kellner, Bruce. ''Donald Windham: A Bio-Bibliography''. Greenwood Press, 1991.

External links

Donald Windham: A Full Length Portrait of the Writer

* Donald Windham and Sandy Campbell Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. *Donald Windham materials i
Robert A. Wilson collection
fro
Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windham, Donald 1920 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American memoirists Lambda Literary Award winners American gay writers American LGBTQ novelists LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state) Writers from Atlanta 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American LGBTQ people Memoirists from Georgia (U.S. state)