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

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, she lived part of her childhood in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

. Her novels are set primarily in the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...

and explore issues of race and gender. In 1965 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature for her novel '' The Keepers of the House'', set in a fictional Alabama town.

Early life

Grau was born in

, 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 Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...

, 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. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

with a B.A. degree from

Newcomb College H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University, located in New Orleans, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was founded by Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1886 in memory of her daughter. Newcomb was the ...

, the women's coordinate college of

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

Career

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

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) 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. ...

in 1956. Nine years later, her novel '' The Keepers of the House'' was awarded the 1965

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...

. It deals with an

interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different "Race (classification of human beings), races" or Ethnic group#Ethnicity and race, racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United Sta ...

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

Themes

Grau's writing explores issues of death, destruction,

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

, and

miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is marriage or admixture between people who are members of different races or ethnicities. It has occurred many times throughout history, in many places. It has occasionally been controversial or illegal. Adjectives describin ...

, frequently set in historical Alabama or Louisiana. Although she did not restrict her writing to the

or 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 Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

feminist literature Feminist literature is fiction, nonfiction, drama, or poetry, which supports the Feminism, feminist goals of defining, establishing, and defending equal Civil and political rights, civil, political, economic, and social rights for women. It often ...

, and

Southern literature Southern United States literature consists of American literature written about the Southern United States or by writers from the region. Literature written about the American South first began during the colonial era, and developed significan ...

Personal life

In 1955 Grau married James Feibleman, a fellow writer and a professor of philosophy at Tulane University. The pair were introduced by Grau's friend, 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 in

Kenner, Louisiana Kenner is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the most populous city in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Jefferson Parish, and is the largest incorporated suburban city of New Orleans. The population was 66,448 at the 2020 United States cen ...

. 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) *'' The Keepers of the House'' (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