Literary Birthday – 5 September – Frank Yerby

Frank Yerby was born on 5 September 1916 and died on 29 November 1991.

Frank Yerby Quotes

1. Writing a novel is like building a wall brick by brick; only amateurs believe in inspiration.
2. When it was over, it was not really over, and that was the trouble.
3. It is my contention that a really great novel is made with a knife and not a pen. A novelist must have the intestinal fortitude to cut out even the most brilliant passage so long as it doesn’t advance the story.
4. When a man’s in love he wants to keep the one he loves – and cherish her. He wants to build a picket fence twixt them and the world. He doesn’t want it temporary, a secret, hidden. He wants the world to know. The one he loves is somebody to him, not a thing to be taken, used and tossed aside. Hell, I’m not saying he shouldn’t be interested in your pretty ankles and what a nice sway your bustle’s got. That’s part of it too; but only a part. The rest of it is the long years ahead, the laughing together, and the crying, bringing up your kids, nodding together under the lamplight when your heads have turned white, and finally lying together forever in the long dark…
5. Maturity is reached the day we don’t need to be lied to about anything.

Frank Yerby was an African-American historical novelist. He earned a B.A. in English from Paine College in 1937 and an M.A. in English from Fisk University in 1938. Yerby’s best-known novel, The Foxes of Harrow, was published in 1946. It made him the first African-American writer to become a millionaire through his writing and the first to have a novel adapted for film by a major Hollywood studio. Yerby’s work was criticised for its white protagonists and stereotyped characters and plot. Critics accused The Foxes of Harrow of echoing Gone with the Wind. Yerby defended his approach, arguing that writers should create books that appeal to a wide audience. His later novels, particularly those of the 1950s and 1960s, dealt more directly with race and racism. In 1955, Yerby left the United States in protest against racial discrimination and settled in Spain, where he lived for the rest of his life. His novels sold more than 55 million copies worldwide, making him one of the most commercially successful African-American writers of the 20th century.

Source for Image: Fair Use, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yerby_frank.jpg

by Amanda Patterson
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