William E. Wilson (1906–1988) was an American writer. He wrote eleven books, including The Wabash, and was a professor of fiction writing and literature at Indiana University from 1950 to 1972.[1]

Biography

William E. Wilson was born in 1906, the son of William E. Wilson, who served as a member of Congress.[2] The younger Wilson spent much of his childhood in or around Evansville, Indiana. He graduated from Harvard University, served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, and spent two years as a Fulbright Scholar at Aix-Marseille University, Grenoble and Nice, France before landing at Baltimore, Maryland where he became Assistant Editor of the Baltimore Sun.[3]

In 1950, he left the Baltimore Sun, joining the faculty of Indiana University where he became a professor of fiction writing and literature until his retirement in 1972. Indiana University has a William E. Wilson Fellowship in Fiction named in his honor.[4]

Recognition

He was a Fulbright Lecturer in France from 1956-1957 and, in 1964, received an Award of Merit from the American Association of State and Local History. He was honored a number of times with the Indiana Author's Day Award. He was recognized in 1962 by the Southeastern Theatre Association for his plays.[3]

Family

His first wife, Ellen Janet Cameron, died in 1976. He had three sons with her. He married Hana Benes in 1977. [1]

Death

Wilson died in 1988 at the age of 82 in Bloomington Hospital in Indiana from cancer.[1]

Bibliography

Non-fiction

• The Wabash, Rivers of America Series; Farrar & Rinehart, New York; 1940
• Big Knife: The Life of John Rogers Clark, Farrar & Rinehart, New York; 1941
• On the Sunny Side of a One Way Street: Humorous Impressions of a Hoosier Boyhood W.W. Norton, New York, 1958
• The Angel and the Serpent: The Story of New Harmony, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 1964
• Indiana: A History, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 1966

Fiction

• Crescent City Simon & Schuster, New York, 1947
• The Strangers, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1952
• The Raiders, Rinehart & Company, New York; 1955
• Everyman Is My Father, Saturday Review Press, New York, 1973

Children’s

• Shooting Star: The Story of Tecumseh, Farrar & Rinehart, New York; 1942
• Abe Lincoln of Pigeon Creek, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1949

References

Sources

• American Book Exchange
• University of Indiana
• Indiana Authors