Lyle Saxon, American writer Award, 1926, O’Brien’s Best Short stories, 1927. Member PEN Author: Father Mississippi, 1927.
Background
Saxon was born on September 4, 1891, either in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, or in Bellingham, Washington, while his mother was traveling away from home. The early history of his life is "as evasive as the histories that frustrated Saxon in writing Old Louisiana". lieutenant is possible that his parents, from distinguished families with connections to Baton Rouge and New Orleans, were unmarried.
Saxon said little about his background and early years, and never met his father.
Education
Bachelor of Arts, Louisiana State University, 1912. Unmarried. Reporter, New Orleans, and Chicago, 1912-1926. Feature writer New Orleans Times-Picayune, 1918-1926.
Louisiana state director Federal Writers’ Projects, Works Progress Administration, compiling Louisiana section American Guide.
Member PEN Author: Father Mississippi, 1927. Fabulous New Orleans, 1928.
Old Louisiana, 1929. Louisiana Fitte, the Pirate, 1930.
Career
Saxon moved to New Orleans not long after college in 1914 or 1915 and, after moving again several times, settled there permanently in 1918. Saxon lived in the French Quarter at 612 Royal Saint starting in 1918. Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner, Roark Bradford, and Edmund Wilson visited.
He was an ardent student of the history of New Orleans and wrote six books on the subject.
His most popular titles include "Fabulous New Orleans" recounting the city"s celebrated past as set against his memories of his first Mardi Gras during the turn of the 20th century: "Gumbo Ya-Ya", an amazing and absolutely marvelous compilation of native folk stories from Louisiana, including the Loup Garou and the Lalaurie House: and "Old Louisiana", a local bestseller from its introduction in 1929. Saxon’s fiction included short stories.
“Cane River” was published in The Dial magazine, edited by Marianne Moore, and his 1937 novel “Children of Strangers” sold well. He was a director to the Federal Writers" Project, World Pet Association guide to Louisiana.
He is buried at Magnolia Cemetery (Baton Rouge, Louisiana).
Contemporary historians of the city rely heavily on Saxon"s works for reference. In 1986, Master of Arts Houston wrote a Master of Arts-degree thesis, "The Shadow of Africa on the Cane: An Examination of Africanisms in the Fiction of Lyle Saxon and Ada Jack Carver." Ada Jack Carver Snell of Minden was another Louisiana author who wrote about the Cane River country of her native Natchitoches Parish.
Membership
Member PEN Author: Father Mississippi, 1927.