Adrien Stoutenburg
Adrien Stoutenburg was an American poet and children's author born in Darfur, Minnesota, in 1916. After studying at the Minnesota School for the Arts, she began her career as a freelance writer in 1940, which evolved into various roles including a librarian and a political writer. Stoutenburg published her first young adult fiction, "Timberline Treasure," in 1951 and went on to produce numerous works that blended American folklore with her creative storytelling. Notably, her compilation "American Tall Tales," released in 1969, remains one of her most celebrated contributions to children's literature. Throughout her literary career, she received multiple awards for her poetry, including the Borestone Mountain Award and the Lamont Poetry Award. Stoutenburg also published under the pseudonym Lace Kendall, producing biographies and fictionalized narratives inspired by cultural myths. Beyond writing, she had a passion for art and music, enjoying activities such as sculpture and playing various instruments. She lived a life dedicated to her craft and interests until her passing in 1982 in Santa Barbara, California.
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Adrien Stoutenburg
Author
- Born: December 1, 1916
- Birthplace: Darfur, Minnesota
- Died: April 14, 1982
- Place of death: Santa Barbara, California
Biography
Poet and children’s author Adrien Stoutenburg was born in Darfur, Minnesota, in 1916. After attending the Minnesota School for the Arts from 1936 through 1938, she became a freelance writer in 1940, a profession she pursued for almost a decade. In 1948, she published short stories in the periodical Cross Section and became a librarian for the Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis. From 1950 through 1952, she worked as a political writer for the News in Richfield, Minnesota, and during his time she published her first work of young adult fiction, Timberline Treasure (1951).
In the mid-1950’s, she relocated to California and worked as an editor for the Parnassus Press in Berkeley for two years before devoting herself full time to her writing in 1958. That year, she published three books: Wild Treasure, a biography cowritten with frequent collaborator Laura Nelson Baker and published by Parnassus, and two other young adult books, Honeymoon and Wild Animals of the Far West. She used her father’s first and middle names, Lace Kendall, as a pseudonym when publishing several books in the mid-1960’s with Coward and Macrae Smith presses. These books included biographies of Harry Houdini and Elisha Kent Kane, as well as fictionalized works such as The Mud Ponies (1963), which was based on a Pawnee Indian myth. Stoutenburg’s juvenile writing was frequently inspired by such American folklore, and one of her most enduringly popular works is a compilation, American Tall Tales, published in 1969.
In addition to her juvenile literature, Stoutenburg also was a poet and she received the Borestone Mountain Award for poetry nine times between 1957 and 1972. She also received the Edwin Markham Award and a Michael Sloane fellowship from the Poetry Society of America in 1961, and a Lamont Poetry Award from the Academy of American Poets in 1964 for her collection Heroes, Advise Us. She was awarded a silver medal in poetry from the California Literature Medal Awards in 1970 for A Short History of the Fur Trade.
Although Stoutenburg wrote numerous books for children during her lifetime, she did not marry and had no children of her own. She devoted her life to her writing and other interests, including art, particularly sculpture. She played several musical instruments, including the piano, guitar, and harmonica, and was interested in outdoor pursuits such as camping and bird-watching. She died in 1982 at her home in Santa Barbara, California.