pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
, May McNeer; 1902 in
Tampa, Florida
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough C ...
– 1994 in
Reston, Virginia
Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia and a principal city of the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Reston's population was 63,226.
Founded in 1964, Reston was influenced by the Garden City move ...
) was a 20th-century American journalist and writer.
Early life
Her first published story appeared in a
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
newspaper when she was eleven years old. In high school she made a fateful decision to give up drawing for writing. She later settled the point for good by marrying visual artist
Lynd Ward
Lynd Kendall Ward (June 26, 1905 – June 28, 1985) was an American artist and novelist, known for his series of wordless novels using wood engraving, and his illustrations for juvenile and adult books. His wordless novels have influenced ...
after his graduation from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...
in 1926.
Career and awards
She attended the University of Georgia School of Journalism. McNeer was the first female undergraduate at the University of Georgia in her freshman year. She graduated in 1926 from
Columbia School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sc ...
. That same year when they married, the couple spent four months in Eastern Europe followed by a year in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
in Germany where Ward studied Graphic Arts and Bookmaking. Returning to the U.S. they began work on the writing and publication of books. Many of her works were illustrated by her husband.
In 1975, the two were jointly awarded the
Regina Medal
The Regina Medal is a literary award conferred annually by the U.S.-based Catholic Library Association. It recognizes one living person for "continued, distinguished contribution to children's literature without regard to the nature of the contri ...
a literary award conferred annually by the U.S. based Catholic Library Association in recognition for "continued, distinguished contribution to children's literature without regard to the nature of the contribution".
In 2020, Beebliome Books began to release many of McNeer's titles as e-books. These include: Up a Crooked River; My Friend Mac; Prince Bantam; Bloomsday for Maggie; Stranger in the Pines; Tales from the Crescent Moon; Waif Maid; and Armed with Courage.
Personal life
The Wards lived in
Cresskill, New Jersey
Cresskill is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 8,573,"Ward Engravings on View" ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', October 27, 1974. Accessed September 12, 2017. "Since then, Mr. Ward has illustrated more than 100 books for adults and children; they range from editions of Goethe's ''Faust'' and Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'' to a number of children's books written by his wife, May McNeer Ward.... For the last 16 years, Mr. and Mrs. Ward have lived on Lambs Lane, in Cresskill, in a small house to which they have added a much larger studio." spending their summers in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
. They had two daughters, Nanda and Robin (sic).Steven L. Herb, "Storyteller without Words: The Graphic Novels of Lynd Ward", The Sixth Follett Lecture, Graduate School of Library and Information Science,
Dominican University, 14 April 201 /ref>
Death
McNeer died in Reston, Virginia in 1994, aged 92. She died 10 years following her husband's death.