Audrey Wurdemann Auslander (January 1, 1911 – May 20, 1960) was an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

. She was the youngest winner of the

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

at the age of 24, for her collection '' Bright Ambush''.

Biography

Wurdemann was born in Seattle, Washington. She claimed to be the great-great-granddaughter of Percy Bysshe Shelley, but no Shelley lineage can be connected to her family. She never attended grammar school, and entered Lakeside High School at the age of 11. Her first collection of poetry, 'The House of Silk' was published when she was 16, sponsored by California poet

George Sterling George Sterling (December 1, 1869 – November 17, 1926) was an American writer based in the San Francisco, California Bay Area and Carmel-by-the-Sea. He was considered a prominent poet and playwright and proponent of Bohemianism during the fi ...

. She was a 1931 honors graduate of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

. After college she traveled through Asia. She married poet and novelist

Joseph Auslander Joseph Auslander (October 11, 1897 – June 22, 1965) was an American poet, anthologist, translator of poems, and novelist. Auslander was appointed the first Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1937 and 1941. Lif ...

in 1932 and moved to New York City, where he taught at Columbia. They moved to Washington, DC when Auslander was appointed the first Poet Laureate Consultant in poetry of the Library of Congress; they lived at 3117 35th Street

Northwest, Washington, D.C. Northwest (NW or N.W.) is the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located north of the National Mall and west of North Capitol Street. It is the largest of the four quadrants of the city (NW, NE, S ...

, in the Cathedral Heights neighborhood. She subsequently collaborated with him on the novels ''My Uncle Jan'' and ''The Islanders''. They spent their last years living in

Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the ...

. Her work appeared in ''Harper's'', and ''Poetry'' magazine. Their papers are held at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

Works

;Poetry * ''The House of Silk'' (1927) * '' Bright Ambush'' (1934, winner of the 1935 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry) * ''The Seven Sins'' (1935) * ''Splendour in the Grass'' (1936) * ''Testament of Love'' (1938) ;Fiction * ''My Uncle Jan'' (1945) with Joseph Auslander * ''The Islanders'' (1951) with Joseph Auslander

References

External links

Oxford Companion to American Literature

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wurdemann, Audrey 1911 births 1960 deaths American women poets Writers from Seattle University of Washington alumni Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners Writers from Coral Gables, Florida 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers