"All that I hope to say in
books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world."
Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899
– October 1, 1985) AKA EB White was the author of several highly popular books
for children, including Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The
Trumpet of the Swan (1970). He was a
contributor to The New Yorker magazine, and also a co-author of the English
language style guide The Elements of Style.
When The New Yorker was founded
in 1925, White submitted manuscripts to it. Katharine Angell, the literary
editor, recommended to editor-in-chief and founder Harold Ross that White be
hired as a staff writer. However, it took months to convince him to come to a
meeting at the office and additional weeks to convince him to work on the
premises. Eventually, he agreed to work in the office on Thursdays.
White was shy around women,
claiming he had “too small a heart, too large a pen."
But in 1929, culminating an
affair which led to her divorce, White and Katherine Angell were married. They
had a son, Joel White.
James Thurber described White as
a quiet man who disliked publicity and who, during his time at The New Yorker,
would slip out of his office via the fire escape to avoid visitors whom he
didn't know.
White had Alzheimer's disease and
died on October 1, 1985, at his farm home in North Brooklin, Maine.