William DuBois (November 29, 1903 – March 16, 1997) was an American playwright, novelist and longtime editor of '' The New York Times Book Review''."William DuBois, 93, Playwright and Editor"
''New York Times'', March 19, 1997
''New York Times'', March 19, 1997

Biography

William DuBois was born in

St. Augustine, Florida St. Augustine ( ; es, San Agustín ) is a city in the Southeastern United States and the county seat of St. Johns County on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabit ...

, in 1903, to parents Virginia Markel DuBois and William Henry Thompson DuBois. He graduated from Columbia University in 1925 with a degree in journalism and upon graduation went to work at '' The New York Times'' in 1926. He went on to become an editor for the ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' where he wrote reviews and articles. DuBois retired from ''The Times'' in 1973. DuBois wrote a number of Broadway plays including '' Pagan Lady'' (1930) and ''I Loved You Wednesday'' (1932). DuBois wrote the play ''Haiti'' (1938) for the

Federal Theatre Project The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a theatre program established during the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United ...

. The play was produced by the

Negro Theatre Unit In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...

and presented at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem and toured to Boston. The play's authorship has often been misattributed to the black scholar

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...

because of the similarity of names."Racing the Archive: Will the Real William DuBois Please Stand Up?"
Shannon Rose Riley, ''English Language Notes'', 45.1, Spring/Summer 2007 His novels include ''The Island in the Square'' (1947), set in New York City in the 1920s; ''A Season to Beware'' (1956), about the worlds of journalism and publishing, and ''The Falcon's Shadow'' (1958), about the travails of the theater. He also worked as a silent writer with

Frank G. Slaughter Frank Gill Slaughter (February 25, 1908 – May 17, 2001), pen-name Frank G. Slaughter, pseudonym C.V. Terry, was an American novelist and physician whose books sold more than 60 million copies. His novels drew on his own experience as a doctor a ...

on 27 of his historical novels.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubois, William 20th-century American novelists American editors 1903 births 1997 deaths Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male novelists American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers People from St. Augustine, Florida Novelists from Florida