“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.![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGk0FhPUDYo4bDhNe-MgSWXTzJJJPQ_WImMrqyWXIPFq3Oe1c4GD05PlvYmOKM416jzizOJjMXep7lCUQWKc_U6qxVhyZBC6ABoEoDRxeTj0IbHfj0zBvK5eAPjCP-pum6i8K75MaBkTW/s400/Porter.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGk0FhPUDYo4bDhNe-MgSWXTzJJJPQ_WImMrqyWXIPFq3Oe1c4GD05PlvYmOKM416jzizOJjMXep7lCUQWKc_U6qxVhyZBC6ABoEoDRxeTj0IbHfj0zBvK5eAPjCP-pum6i8K75MaBkTW/s400/Porter.jpg)
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.”
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