Fanny Fern
Sara Willis | |
|---|---|
Fern c. 1866 | |
| Born | Sara Payson Willis July 9, 1811 |
| Died | October 10, 1872 (aged 61) New York City, New York, United States |
| Resting place | Mount Auburn Cemetery, Massachusetts, United States |
| Spouse | Charles Eldredge
(m. 1837; died 1845)Samuel Farrington
(m. 1849; div. 1853) |
| Children | 3 daughters |
| Relatives | Nathaniel Willis (father) Hannah Parker (mother) |
Fanny Fern (born Sara Payson Willis; July 9, 1811 – October 10, 1872), was an American novelist, children's writer, humorist, and newspaper columnist in the 1850s to 1870s. Her popularity has been attributed to a conversational style and sense of what mattered to her mostly middle-class female readers.
By 1855, Fern was the highest-paid US columnist, commanding $100 per week for her New York Ledger column. A collection of her columns published in 1853 sold 70,000 copies in its first year. Her best-known work, the fictional autobiography Ruth Hall (1854), has become a popular subject among feminist literary scholars.