''One Writer's Beginnings'' is a collection of autobiographical essays by

Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel ''The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numero ...

. The book is based on three lectures she delivered at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in April 1983, as part of the William E. Massey Sr. lecture series. The three essays are entitled: ''Listening'', ''Learning to See'', and ''Finding a Voice.'' Well received by both critics and fans alike, ''One Writer's Beginnings'' was on ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' bestseller list for almost a year. In the essays, Ms. Welty explains the inescapable bond between her childhood in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and her later career as a writer. She shares details from her childhood and her relationship with her parents, Christian Welty and Chestina Andrews Welty. She discusses how these two critical relationships, and other relationships from her childhood, contributed to her literary voice. The book has been praised as revealing "the confluence of past and present as the design of Welty's life and art by making such intersection the structural principle behind her life story as an artist."Ciuba, Gary M. ''Time as Confluence: Self and Structure in Welty's'' One Writer's Beginnings. The Southern Literary Journal 26 (1993), p. 78. The book includes a number of Welty family photos. The lectures were published in book form by

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

in 1984.

References

External links

''Eudora Welty: One Writer's Beginnings''
1989 PBS profile of Eudora Welty, based on her book of the same name. {{Eudora Welty Literary autobiographies 1984 non-fiction books Harvard University Press books Works by Eudora Welty