Fanny Butcher ( Fanny Amanda Butcher; September 13, 1888 – May 11, 1987) was a long time

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' newspaper.

Personal life

Butcher was born on September 13, 1888, in

Fredonia, Kansas Fredonia is a city in and the county seat of Wilson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,151. The city was founded in 1868, and saw considerable expansion in the early 20th century, with a foss ...

, to Levi Oliver Butcher (1862–1929) and Hattie May Young (; 1864–1947). Her family moved to Chicago when she was 3-years-old and she later attended Lewis Institute (now Illinois Institute of Technology) from 1906 to 1908. She graduated from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1910. In 1935 Butcher married Richard Drummond Bokum, Jr. (1885–1963), an advertising executive. They had no children.

Career

She began at the ''Tribune'' in 1913 and held various positions including society editor, club editor, crime reporter, fashion editor, women's assistant editor, special correspondent, music assistant critic. In 1923 she became the literary editor and held the position for 40 years until her retirement in 1963. A cartoon by

Helen E. Hokinson Helen Elna Hokinson (June 29, 1893 – November 1, 1949) was an American cartoonist and a staff cartoonist for ''The New Yorker''. Over a 20-year span, she contributed 68 covers and more than 1,800 cartoons to ''The New Yorker''. Life an ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' on the back cover of Fanny Butcher's autobiography, ''Many Lives – One Love'', depicts a bookstore clerk in the biography section showing a book to an elderly lady, saying: From this, one might infer that Fanny Butcher was a household name among bookish Americans in 1940. In 2016, Butcher was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.

Resources

Bibliography

* ; ; .

External links

Fanny Butcher Papers
at the Newberry Library
Hervey Allen Papers, 1831-1965, SC.1952.01, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh

Adele Hast, The ''Caxtonian Web Edition'', May 2002. The

Caxton Club The Caxton Club is a private social club and bibliophilic society founded in Chicago in 1895 to promote the book arts and the history of the book. To further its goals, the club holds monthly (September through June) dinner meetings and luncheons ...

of Chicago {{DEFAULTSORT:Butcher, Fanny 1888 births 1987 deaths Chicago Tribune people American literary critics Women literary critics People from Fredonia, Kansas Women's page journalists American women critics

Personal life

Career

See also

Resources

Bibliography

External links