Eudora Welty is a beloved institution of Southern fiction and American literature, whose life and work have captured an unusually reverential following. This biography makes a significant contribution to the world of letters as a chronicle of the life and achievements of one our greatest living authors, a woman of paramount importance in the American literary canon. From a Mississippi childhood to an early advertising career in New York, to the sale of her first short story, to her literary friendships with Katherine Ann Porter and Elizabeth Bowen, and to her rivalry with Carson McCullers, biographer Ann Waldron brings together the details and moments of Welty`s life, and shows how a writer`s sensibility is formed and informed by a sense of place and purpose. Elegant and even-handed, respectful and authoritative, this first biography to chart the life of a national treasure is a must-have for Welty fans and scholars everywhere.