The Keepers of the House

Shirley Ann Grau (1929-2020) was an American novelist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, who graduated from Newcomb College in 1950. She gained prominence with her debut short story collection The Black Prince (1955), nominated for the National Book Award, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1965 for her novel The Keepers of the House. Her works, often set in the Deep South, explore themes of race, gender, and Southern life, establishing her as a key figure in Southern and feminist literature.