Nancy Milford
Encyclopedia
Nancy Milford is an American biographer.
Milford is best known for her book Zelda about F. Scott Fitzgerald
's wife Zelda Fitzgerald
. The book started out as her master's thesis and was published to broad acclaim in 1970. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
and the National Book Award
, spent 29 weeks on The New York Times
best-seller list, and has since been translated into 17 languages.
Her most recent book is Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay, which was published in 2001. She is currently working on a biography of Rose Kennedy.
Milford received her B.A. from the University of Michigan
, then earned an M.A. (1964) and Ph.D. (1972) at Columbia University
.
While considering writing to be her primary career, Milford has also taught at the University of Michigan
, Princeton University
, Brown University
, Vassar College
, New York University
, Bennington College
, Briarcliff College
, and Bard College
. In 2002, she became a visiting professor at Hunter College
of the City University of New York
, and has since joined the permanent faculty there as a Distinguished Lecturer.
In February, 2008, Milford was named the executive director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
Milford lives in New York.
Milford is best known for her book Zelda about F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
's wife Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald , born Zelda Sayre in Montgomery, Alabama, was an American novelist and the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. She was an icon of the 1920s—dubbed by her husband "the first American Flapper"...
. The book started out as her master's thesis and was published to broad acclaim in 1970. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
and the National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
, spent 29 weeks on The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
best-seller list, and has since been translated into 17 languages.
Her most recent book is Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay, which was published in 2001. She is currently working on a biography of Rose Kennedy.
Milford received her B.A. from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, then earned an M.A. (1964) and Ph.D. (1972) at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
While considering writing to be her primary career, Milford has also taught at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, Bennington College
Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
, Briarcliff College
Briarcliff College
Briarcliff College was a women's college located in the village of Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County, New York, near White Plains.Founded in the 1904, Briarcliff was a junior college until 1965, during the presidency of Charles E. Atkins, when it began awarding four-year Bachelor's degrees...
, and Bard College
Bard College
Bard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...
. In 2002, she became a visiting professor at Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
of the City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
, and has since joined the permanent faculty there as a Distinguished Lecturer.
In February, 2008, Milford was named the executive director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
Milford lives in New York.
Books
- Zelda, 1970.
- Contributor, Adrienne Rich's Poetry, 1975.
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay, 2001.
- Editor and author of the introduction, The Selected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay, 2001.
Awards and honors
Milford has been an Annenberg Fellow at Brown University in 1995; a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow in 1995; a Fulbright scholar in Turkey in 1996 and 1999; a Guggenheim Fellow in 1978; a Literary Lion at the New York Public Library in 1984. In 1972, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Windham College.Quotes
- Being a biographer "requires not only the tact, patience and thoroughness of a scholar, but the stamina of a horse." (Quoted in the Albany Times-Union, September 30, 2001.)