Discipline: Literature

Laura Benét

Discipline: Literature
MacDowell Fellowships: 1920, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1949

Laura Benét (1884-1979) was an American poet, newspaper editor, and non-fiction writer. Benét was born at Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, New York, on 13 June 1884. Her brothers both won the Pulitzer Prize, the writer William Rose Benét and the poet Stephen Vincent Benét. She was the author of several volumes of poetry in addition to The Mystery of Emily Dickinson and When William Rose, Stephen Vincent and I Were Young, two biographical works published after her 90th birthday. Retired in her 70s, as a teacher and social worker for the Spring Street Settlement House, Benét remained active as a writer and in writers' circles. She was a member of the Poetry Society of America, and P.E.N., the organization of poets, playwrights, editors, essayists, and novelists. Bridge of a Single Hair, a volume of her poems, was released by Braden Press, Boston, in 1974. Miss Benét attended the Emma Willard School and graduated from Vassar College with the class of 1907.

Studios

Irving Fine

Laura Benét worked in the Irving Fine studio.

Youngstown Studio was given to MacDowell by friends of Miss Myra McKeown in Youngstown, OH, where she promoted both art and music. It was renamed Irving Fine Studio in 1972 in honor of Irving Fine, a distinguished composer, conductor, and teacher who was a MacDowell Fellow during the 1940s and 1950s. The simple interior of the studio…

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