Jay Williams (May 31, 1914 – July 12, 1978) was an American author of science fiction (often for children), fantasy, historical fiction, non-fiction, and radical theatre.

Early life

Williams was born in Buffalo,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, the son of Max and Lillian Jacobson. He cited the experience of growing up as the son of a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

show producer as leading him to pursue his acting career as early as college. He attended both the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

(1932–33) and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(1934), participating in amateur theatrical productions.

Career

Early endeavors

Out of school and out of work during the end of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, he worked as a comedian on the upstate New York

Borscht Belt The Borscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the mostly defunct summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster counties in the U.S. state of New York, straddling both Upstate New York and the north ...

circuit. From 1936 until 1941, Jay Williams worked as a

press agent In marketing, publicity is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service, person or organization (company, charity, etc.). It may also refer to the movement of information from its source to the general public, often (but not always) ...

for

Dwight Deere Winman Dwight may refer to: People * Dwight (given name) * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), 34th president of the United States and former military officer *New England Dwight family of American educators, military and political leaders, and authors * ...

Jed Harris Jed Harris (born Jacob Hirsch Horowitz; February 25, 1900 – November 15, 1979) was an Austrian-born American theatrical producer and director. His many successful Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s include ''Broadway (play), Broadway' ...

and the Hollywood Theatre Alliance. Williams even played a feature role in the

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

prize winning film, '' Little Fugitive'', produced in 1953. Williams served in the Army during World War II, receiving a

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

. While serving, he published his first book ''The Stolen Oracle'' in 1943. After his discharge from the military in 1945, he turned his attention to writing as a full-time career.

Writing

In all, Williams authored at least 79 books including 11 picture books, 39 children's novels, 7 adult mysteries, 4 nonfiction books, 8 historical novels and a play. He is probably best known for his young adult "

Danny Dunn Danny Dunn is a fictional character, the protagonist of a series of American juvenile science fiction/adventure books written by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams beginning in 1956. Background The stories are set in the fictional American to ...

" science fiction/fantasy series which he co-authored with

Raymond Abrashkin Raymond Abrashkin (March 9, 1911 – August 25, 1960) was an American writer and filmmaker. He is known for writing, co-producing, and co-directing '' Little Fugitive'' and for co-creating and co-writing with Jay Williams the '' Danny Dunn'' se ...

. Though Abrashkin died in 1960, Williams insisted Abrashkin should continue to receive credit as co-author of all 15 books of this series, which continued from 1956 until 1977. Williams was reported to personally reply to over 1,000 fan letters from his juvenile readers each year. Like his first novel, ''The Stolen Oracle'', Williams wrote mysteries for young adults, including ''The Counterfeit African'' (1945) and ''The Roman Moon Mystery''. He also wrote adult crime fiction, using the pseudonym Michael Delving. (This may be a reference to

Michel Delving The Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, described in ''The Lord of the Rings'' and other works. The Shire is an inland area settled exclusively by hobbits, the Shire-folk, largely sheltered from the goings-on in th ...

, a large hobbit-populated town in ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

''.) One of his series of mysteries features the American rare book and manuscript collector Dave Cannon, and takes place in Britain. Jay Williams also wrote a number of successful historical novels for adults, including ''The Witches'', a look at the eradication of the healing women in Scotland; ''Solomon and Sheba''; ''The Siege'', a tale of the 13th-century wars initiated by the

ope Ope () is a locality situated in Östersund Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of ...

against the

Albigensian heresy Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follo ...

; ''Tomorrow's Fire'' (1964), set during the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...

; and ''The Rogue from Padua'', a novel that takes place in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

. He was also interested in the future in his many speculative science fiction tales, often published in ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''; eight of these stories were published under the title ''Unearthly Beasts''. His novel ''Uniad'' sees a world in which individuality has shrunk. His novel ''The Forger'' examines commercialism and art, and the relation of art to real life. Using the pseudonym "Michael Delving", Williams wrote seven mystery novels. Williams also wrote non-fiction books: ''The

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

'', ''Knights of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

'', ''The

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

'', and ''

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...

'', as well as his young adult Landmark book on

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, ''The Battle for the North Atlantic''. He was known for his extensive research in both his fiction and non-fiction. He wrote about the environment in his ''Fall of the Sparrow'', describing the

loss Loss may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Loss'' (Bass Communion album) (2006) * ''Loss'' (Mull Historical Society album) (2001) *"Loss", a song by God Is an Astronaut from their self-titled album (2008) * Losses "(Lil Tjay son ...

of numerous animal and bird species, often due to man; and he wrote a travel book, ''A Change of Climate'', a European trip with his son, Chris.

Personal life

Williams and his wife Barbara Girsdansky were married June 3, 1941. They had a son, Christopher ("Chris"), and a daughter, Victoria. Jay Williams died at age 64 from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

while on a trip to London on July 12, 1978.

References

External links

* * * *
Michael Delving
at LC Authorities, 7 records, an
at WorldCat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jay 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers American short story writers 1914 births 1978 deaths Danny Dunn United States Army personnel of World War II Vaudeville performers American male short story writers 20th-century American male writers