Nationality Canadian American Role Author Name Dare Wright | Genre Children's literature Period 1957–1981 | |
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Born December 3, 1914Thornhill, Ontario ( 1914-12-03 ) Occupation Photographer, author, model Books The Lonely Doll, Edith & Mr Bear, The Lonely Doll Learns a Lesson, Holiday for Edith and the bears, A gift from the lonely doll | ||
Dare wright photographer author of the lonely doll
Dare Wright (December 3, 1914 – January 25, 2001) was a Canadian-American children's author, model, and photographer. She is best known for her 1957 children's book, The Lonely Doll.
Contents
- Dare wright photographer author of the lonely doll
- Dare wright the lonely doll author photographer
- Early life
- Career
- Personal life
- Death
- Works cited
- References
Dare wright the lonely doll author photographer
Early life
Wright was born in the Thornhill section of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, but spent her childhood in the United States, growing up in Cleveland, Ohio. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother, the portrait artist Edith Stevenson Wright, while her brother, Blaine, went to live with his father, Ivan Wright, a theater critic in New York City. The siblings did not meet again until Dare moved to New York City in her twenties. Wright spent her formative years in Cleveland Heights.
Wright graduated from Laurel School in Shaker Heights in 1933 at the top of her class, and relocated to New York to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In 1935, she was cast in a small role as a maid in a stage production of Pride and Prejudice, which she performed in Washington, D.C. and on Broadway.
Career
In 1957, she photographed her childhood Lenci doll, Edith, along with two teddy bears bought at FAO Schwarz, for her first children's book, titled The Lonely Doll. The book made The New York Times Best Seller list for children's books. In November 2010, The British Newspaper The Guardian named The Lonely Doll one of the 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books of all time. It was followed by eighteen other stories. Out of print for many years, it was reissued in 1998, introducing Wright to a new generation of readers. Make Me Real, which features another of Wright's childhood dolls, and Ocracoke in The Fifties, her only book written for adults, have been published posthumously.
Dare Wright's photographs were exhibited for the first time in 2012 by Fred Torres Collaborations.
Personal life
Wright never married nor had children. Biographer Jean Nathan has suggested that, aside from an incident of rape by a homeless man Wright had befriended in her eighties, that she never had any intimate relationships and remained a virgin for her entire life. Her mother died in 1975 and her brother in 1985, which marked the beginnings of alcoholism that would plague Wright for much of her later life.
Death
In May 1995, Wright was admitted to Goldwater Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island after suffering respiratory failure. She remained hospitalized for the next five and a half years until she died on January 25, 2001 at the age of 86.
Works cited
