'Giving shape and meaning to chaos'

 

“Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning.” – Katherine Anne Porter

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist, Porter was born in Texas on this date in 1890.   She wrote only one novel – but it was a really good one.   Ship of Fools not only was a worldwide bestseller, it also earned her the Pulitzer, The National Book Award, and a box office hit movie. 

She also won the National Book Award for The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, often hailed as a hallmark of short story excellence.

Porter’s journalism career began on the East Coast, then gravitated to Colorado where she was writing for the Rocky Mountain News when she almost died during the 1918 flu pandemic. When she was finally discharged from the hospital, she was frail and completely bald and when her hair finally grew back, it was white and remained that way for the rest of her life.  Her life-and-death experience was reflected in her award winning trilogy of novelettes led by the wonderful Pale Horse, Pale Rider. 
 

Porter advised young writers to look upon writing as an art AND a profession.  “Writing is a craft,” she said.  “Take an apprenticeship in it just like any other profession.”