Profile of the Day: E.B. White

E.B. White

Do you remember reading Charlotte’s Web? On this day in 1899, author E.B. White was born in Mount Vernon, New York.

The youngest child of Samuel Tilly White and Jessie Hart White, Elwyn Brooks White was the couple’s sixth child. He hated the name “Elwyn,” spent most of his life going by the nickname “Andy.” His older brother, Stanley Hart White, was a professor of Landscape Architecture and inventor of the Vertical Garden. He was a very influential figure in E.B. White’s life and taught him how to read.

In the late 1930s, White turned his attention to writing children’s fiction. In 1945, White published his first children’s book, Stuart Little. Although he received a lukewarm reaction to the book, he would go on to publish his second children’s book Charlotte’s Web in 1952. The story about a pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a spider named Charlotte would go on to become one of the most beloved children’s novels and a literary classic. In 1963, White received a Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to literature.

How are you related to E.B. White? Explore his family tree and discover your connection to the author!
 

View E.B. White’s Geni Profile

Image: White Literary LLC, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)