View source for Esther Forbes

{{Short description|American novelist (1891–1967)}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=May 2012}}
{{infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> 
| name          = Esther Forbes
| birth_name    = Esther Louise Forbes
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1891|06|28}}
| birth_place   = [[Westborough, Massachusetts]], U.S. 
| death_place   = [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1967|08|12|1891|06|28}}
| occupation    = Writer
| period        = 1926–1954
| genre         = [[Children's literature|Children's]] [[historical novels]]; biography
| notableworks  = [[Paul Revere and the World He Lived In]]<br>[[Johnny Tremain|Johnny Tremain: A Novel for Young and Adult]]
| spouse        = Albert Hoskins (1926–1933)
| alma_mater    = [[Bradford College (United States)|Bradford College]]
}}

'''Esther Louise Forbes''' ({{IPAc-en|f|ɔr|b|z}}; June 28, 1891 – August 12, 1967)  was an American [[novelist]], [[historian]] and [[children's writer]] who received the [[Pulitzer Prize]] and the [[Newbery Medal]]. She was the first woman elected to membership in the [[American Antiquarian Society]].

== Early life and education ==
Esther Forbes was born to William Trowbridge Forbes and [[Harriette Merrifield Forbes]] on June 28, 1891, in [[Westborough, Massachusetts]]. She moved with her family to [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], in 1898. She attended [[Bancroft School]] in Worcester, and, from 1909 to 1912, she attended [[Bradford College (United States)|Bradford Academy]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw00sich|url-access=registration|title=Notable American Women: The Modern Period : a Biographical Dictionary|last1=Sicherman|first1=Barbara|last2=Green|first2=Carol Hurd|date=1980|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674627338|pages=[https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw00sich/page/246 246]|language=en}}</ref> a junior college in [[Bradford, Massachusetts]].

In 1916, she joined her older sisters Cornelia and Katherine in [[Madison, Wisconsin]], where Cornelia was in graduate school and Katharine was teaching. During this time she attended the classes at the [[University of Wisconsin]].

== Career ==
While in Wisconsin, she joined the editorial board of the ''Wisconsin Literary Magazine'', along with another future Pulitzer Prize winner, [[Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings]]. In 1919, she returned to Worcester. In late December she began working for the editorial department of [[Houghton Mifflin Company]] in Boston. From 1924 to 1926, she wrote feature articles for the [[Boston Evening Transcript]].

She married Albert L. Hoskins, Jr., an attorney, on January 14, 1926, and left Houghton Mifflin. The couple moved to New York City. Her first novel, ''O Genteel Lady!'' was published in 1926 and was selected as the second book for the [[Book of the Month Club]]. In 1928 ''[[A Mirror for Witches]]'' was published. In 1933, she and Albert Hoskins divorced. Although she retained her married name, she wrote under her maiden name, Esther Forbes.

Forbes returned to Worcester in 1933, where she lived with her mother and unmarried siblings. At this time, her mother began working closely with Forbes on the research for her novels, often at the local research library, the American Antiquarian Society.

In 1935, ''[[Miss Marvel (novel)|Miss Marvel]]'', in 1937 ''[[Paradise (Forbes novel)|Paradise]]'' and in 1938, ''[[The General's Lady]]'' were published. Each of these were historical novels set in [[New England]] from colonial times through the early years of the Republic.

In a break from her fiction, Forbes wrote a definitive biography of [[Paul Revere]], ''[[Paul Revere and the World He Lived In]]'' (1942), for which she received the 1943 [[Pulitzer Prize for History]].<ref>[https://www.bookologymagazine.com/resources/authors-emeritus/forbes-esther/ Palmquist, Vicki. "Forbes, Esther", ''Bookology Magazine'']</ref>  Also in 1943, she received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from [[Clark University]].

In 1943, her best-known work ''[[Johnny Tremain]]'' was published, for which she received the [[Newbery Award]] in 1944. In 1946, ''[[America's Paul Revere]]'' was published and in 1947, ''[[The Boston Book]]'' was published.

In 1947, she received the [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer novel award]] of $150,000 for her then forthcoming book, ''[[The Running of the Tide]]'', published in 1948.  In 1949, she was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter F|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterF.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=July 29, 2014}}</ref> ''[[Rainbow on the Road]]'' was published in 1954. In 1960, Esther Forbes became the first woman elected to membership in the American Antiquarian Society.

== Death ==
Forbes died on August 12, 1967, in Worcester, of rheumatic heart disease. Her manuscripts were donated to Clark University in Worcester. The royalties for her historical novels were donated to the American Antiquarian Society,<ref>[https://www.americanantiquarian.org/Exhibitions/View/6/fig6_5.htm "Esther Forbes at her typewriter", American Antiquarian Society]</ref> which also has the research notes on her unfinished work on witchcraft in early New England.

== Works ==
* ''[[s:O Genteel Lady!|O Genteel Lady!]]'' (1926)
* ''[[A Mirror for Witches]]'' (1928)
* ''Miss Marvel'' (1935 historical about a Worcester family)
* ''Paradise'' (1937)
* ''The General's Lady'' (1938 historical novel about [[Bathsheba Spooner]])
* ''[[Paul Revere and the World He Lived In]]'' (1942 biography)
* ''[[Johnny Tremain]]'' (1943 YA novel)
* ''The Boston Book'' (1947 pictorial essay)
* ''America's Paul Revere'' (1948 pictorial essay)
* ''The Running of the Tide'' (1948)
* ''Rainbow on the Road'' (1954)

==References==
{{Reflist}}
;Citations
* {{cite book |title= Esther Forbes: A Bio-Bibliography of the Author of Johnny Tremaine|last= Bales|first= Jack |year= 1998 |publisher= Scarecrow Press|location= Lanham, MD|isbn= 0-8108-3370-0|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=c_GXmkqqv5IC}}
* {{cite book |last1= Hall|first1= David D.|editor1-first= Barbara|editor1-last= Sicherman|others=Green, Carol Hurd; Kantrov, Ilene; Walker, Harriette|title= Notable American Women: The Modern Period |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CfGHM9KU7aEC |access-date= June 4, 2010 |year= 1980|publisher= Radcliffe College|isbn= 0-674-62732-6}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Children's literature}} 
* {{Wikisource author-inline}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Esther Forbes |sopt=t}}
* [http://users.wpi.edu/~cityofwords/forbes.html Biography, Works and Photos at the Worcester Writers' Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202055016/http://users.wpi.edu/~cityofwords/forbes.html |date=2020-02-02 }}
* {{Find a Grave}}

{{PulitzerPrize HistoryAuthors 1926–1950}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Esther}}
[[Category:1891 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American women biographers]]
[[Category:American children's writers]]
[[Category:American historical novelists]]
[[Category:American women historical novelists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Newbery Medal winners]]
[[Category:Writers from Worcester, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for History winners]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin&ndash;Madison alumni]]
[[Category:People from Westborough, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American women children's writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American biographers]]
[[Category:Novelists from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period]]