Edna Ferber

Edna Ferber (1885-1968) was an acclaimed American author known for novels like So Big, which won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize, Show Boat (1926, adapted into a landmark musical), Cimarron (1930, Oscar-winning film), and Giant (1952, film starring Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean), as well as plays co-written with George S. Kaufman including Dinner at Eight and Stage Door. Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Hungarian-Jewish and German-Jewish parents, she began as a reporter before turning to fiction amid family hardships and antisemitism, becoming a member of the Algonquin Round Table and a champion of strong female protagonists highlighting American diversity and discrimination. Chicago Literary Hall of Fame