Nelson Algren

Novelist

Birthday March 28, 1909

Birth Sign Aries

Birthplace Michigan

DEATH DATE May 9, 1981 (72)

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About

Author who wrote The Man with the Golden Arm, for which he won the National Book Award. His other successful works include Chicago, City on the Make (1951) and A Walk on the Wild Side (1956).

Before Fame

He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in journalism and subsequently worked for a local paper. He published his debut novel, Somebody in Boots, in 1935.

Trivia

He was a three-time O Henry Award winner for his short stories "A Bottle of Milk for Mother," "The Captain is Impaled," and "The Brother's House."

Family Life

He wed his second wife, Betty Ann Jones, in 1965. Previously, he had been married to Amanda Kontowicz. He also had an affair with existentialist author Simone de Beauvoir.

Associated With

He, like Anne Lindbergh , was a National Book Award winner.